How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’ve heard the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re trying to present and explain data.

Using charts and graphs is useful for making technical or statistical data a whole lot simpler to grasp.

You can present data with tables, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with figures, percentages or comparisons quickly, then graphs and charts let you present the data in an intelligent and meaningful way that can be quickly understood.

Graphs and charts help you present complex information so your audience can more easily interpret it!

If you need to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you how to create beautiful and interactive charts to your pages and posts that:

• Your web visitors can interact with
• Lets you upload data from your computer or a web-based data source
• Will dynamically resize for viewing on mobile devices

If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison charts or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to add this data is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply add your images to your post or page.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to easily embed interactive bar charts and pie graphs into WordPress posts with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

Fortunately, there is a great plugin for WordPress sites that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create great-looking and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable information.

Visualizer

Plugin URL

You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (see a little further below), or access and download WordPress Visualizer from the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Plugin Description

The WP Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and embed colorful and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in just 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 additional plugins are needed.

Visualizer also comes with a variety of charts 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

WordPress 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. Several options are available for each chart that allow you to customize their look and feel.

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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without requiring the installation of any extra software.

How To Install WP Visualizer

From your WordPress admin area, select Plugins > Add New from the dashboard menu …

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

Locate Visualizer in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin after installation is successful …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …

After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in your dashboard menu …

This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library options page …

After installing the plugin, the library section will be empty.

Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to display in your pages and posts.

How To Configure The Visualizer Plugin

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

A gallery displaying all of the default kinds of charts available will load on your screen.

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

Your graph/chart type will pop up in a new window.

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

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

• Your first row contains the column headings.
• Your second row includes the series type (e.g. boolean, timeofday, etc.)

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

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

Once you have completed this step, select your 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 hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin will import the data and display it using the graph/chart type you have previously selected …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a step-by-step tutorial that explains 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 your data, check that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file with the right data), and click ‘Next‘ …

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

Visualizer gives you total control of your information, and updates your display in real time …

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

• General Settings – Configure chart title settings, 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 Create Chart …

Your new graph or chart will be added to the Visualizer ‘Library’ …

Note that each element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you embed charts and graphs into your WordPress pages very quickly …

Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by type …

After an item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, duplicate it, or delete it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

Once you’ve created a new element and added it to the Visualizer Library, it’s simple to add it to a page or post.

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

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

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

Select the element to be added to your content and click the “insert” icon …

This adds a shortcode for the element into your content …

After you have finished adding your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …

Once your post has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the result …

The graph will show in the location you specified …

As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive elements for mobile users …

As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and the changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This makes working with interactive graph data in WordPress really efficient.

The developers of this plugin have created a series of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use WordPress 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 pie charts and graphs in WordPress.

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