How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’re probably familiar with the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re trying to present or explain data.

Graphs and charts help to make statistical data and information easier to understand.

You can use tables to present data, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex data with figures, trends or comparisons more easily, then graphs and charts allow you to present the information in a meaningful and intelligent manner that can be easily processed.

Charts and graphs help present complex information so your audience can more easily interpret it!

If you want to learn how to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create beautiful and interactive charts to your pages and posts that:

• Your web visitors can engage with
• Allows you to upload graph or chart data from your computer or a web-based source of data
• Is fully responsive for mobile device viewers

If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to display your information is to create the graphs or charts using an image editing application, convert these into images and then simply add the image files to your posts.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to add interactive bars and pie graphs to your WordPress pages with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

Fortunately, there is a free plugin for WordPress sites that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable content.

WordPress Plugin: Visualizer

Visualizer URL

You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (we show you how to do this a little further down the page), or access and download WP Visualizer the WordPress free plugin directory using the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Plugin Description

WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful plugin that lets you create, manage and insert appealing and mobile-responsive charts into your WordPress posts and pages in a few mouse clicks.

The plugin uses Google Visualization API to render charts, which support cross-browser compatibility (adopting VML for older IE versions) and cross-platform portability to iOS and new Android releases, and are based on pure HTML5/SVG technology (adopting VML for old IE versions), so no extra add-ons are required.

The plugin also comes with a variety of built-in optimized for your data visualization needs, including:

• Line chart
• Area chart
• Bar chart
• Column chart
• Pie chart
• Geo chart
• Gauge chart
• Candlestick chart
• Scatter chart

Visualizer is also flexible and customizable, allowing you to use Google Chart Tools with their default setting, or configure an extensive set of options to match your web design. A number of options are available for each chart that allow you to further customize their settings.

Additionally, charts are rendered using HTML5/SVG technology to provide cross-browser compatibility (including VML for older IE versions) and cross platform portability to iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Your site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without having to install any additional plugins.

Plugin Installation

From your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …

In the Add Plugins page type in “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …

Locate Visualizer in the search results screen and click Install Now …

Click OK to continue …

Activate the plugin …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …

After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library from the main menu …

This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings …

When you first install the plugin, this section will be empty.

Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to insert into your pages or posts.

Visualizer Plugin Configuration

To add a new chart or graph to the library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …

A visual gallery displaying all of the default types of charts and graphs available will come up on your screen.

Select the type of chart or graph you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …

The graph/chart type will open up in a new window.

The next step is to upload a CSV file with your data …

When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:

• The first row includes the column headings.
• The second row contains the series type (e.g. string, datetime, etc.)

The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the above requirements …

If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, just study the sample CSV file that comes with the plugin.

Once you have completed this step, select the data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.

Upload CSV File From Computer

To upload your CSV file from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

Use the browser to locate and select your data file and click on ‘Open‘ …

The plugin imports the data and displays it using the graph/chart type you have previously chosen …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, see the article below:

• How To Populate Data Using Google Spreadsheet

After importing the data, make sure that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file containing the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin displays a number of customization settings and options …

The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you total control over your information, and updates your display in real time …

For example, the pie chart offers various configurable options, such as:

• General Settings – Configure settings for the chart’s title, font styles, tooltip, and legend.
• Pie Settings – Create 3D pie charts, draw slices counterclockwise, set the text content displayed on the slice, create a “donut” pie chart, rotate the chart’s “start” angle and set the slice border color.
• Residue Settings – Set the ‘Visibility Threshold’ (the slice relative part, below which a slice will not show individually.), ‘Residual Slice Label’ (the label for the combination slice that holds all slices below slice visibility threshold, e.g. “Other”), and ‘Residue Slice Color’.
• Slice Settings – Customize the ‘Slice Offset’ (how far to separate the slice from the rest of the pie), and ‘Slice Color’.
• Layout & Chart Area – Configure the layout (total size of chart) including the width and height of the chart as a number of percentage, background color for the main area of the chart and the chart border width and color, and the placement and size of the chart area (where the chart itself is drawn, excluding axis and legends).

Once you are satisfied with the way your chart or graph appears, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

The graph or chart will now be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …

Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this allows you to add charts and graphs to your pages and posts quickly and easily …

Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …

After adding a graph or chart to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, duplicate it, or trash it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

After creating a element and adding it to the Library, adding it to a post or page is very simple.

First, create a new post or page (or open an existing one) …

Next, place your mouse cursor where you would like to insert your visual element into the content and click on Add Media …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

Select the chart or graph to be inserted into your content and click the “insert” icon …

This inserts a shortcode into your content …

Once you have added the shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …

After publishing your page, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …

The element will show in the location where you placed the shortcode …

As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive visual elements for mobile browsing …

As you can see, WordPress Visualizer allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is one of the great benefits of using the Visualizer plugin if you’re working with dynamic chart data in WordPress.

The plugin developers have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use Visualizer.

For additional tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, refer to the site below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create great-looking and mobile-responsive bar charts and graphs in WordPress with WordPress Visualizer.

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