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 presenting or explaining complex data.

Using charts and graphs is useful for making statistical data more easily digestible.

You can use tables to present data, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with figures, trends or comparisons quickly, then charts and graphs are perfect for helping them understand your information.

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

If you need to learn how to present information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you how to create and add great-looking and updatable charts and graphs to your pages that:

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

If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to present your information is to create the charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg and .png files and then simply insert the image into your web content.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

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

Fortunately, there is a free WordPress plugin 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 updateable information.

Visualizer Plugin For WordPress

Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or access and download the Visualizer plugin here:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Description

WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to create, manage and embed appealing and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few simple steps.

WordPress Visualizer 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 plugins or add-ons are needed.

WordPress Visualizer also contains a variety of charts optimized for all 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 flexible and customizable, allowing you to use Google Chart Tools with their default setting, or configure an extensive set of options to match your site’s design. A number of options are available for each chart that allow you to 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 visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without having to install extra plugins.

Plugin Installation

From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the dashboard menu …

In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …

Locate the entry in the search results screen and click the “Install Now” button …

Click OK to proceed …

Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …

After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

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

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

When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.

Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to the library.

Plugin Configuration

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

You will be presented with all of the different types of charts and graphs available.

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

The selected graph/chart type will pop up in a lightbox.

The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains all the data you would like to populate your chart or graph with …

When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:

• Your first row contains your column headings.
• The second row contains the series type (e.g. boolean, date, etc.)

The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …

If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply download the sample spreadsheet provided with the plugin.

Once you have created your CSV file, select the data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.

Upload CSV File From Computer

To upload a CSV file and data from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin imports the data from the CSV file and displays it using the graph/chart type chosen …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a 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 the data, check that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file with the right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve selected, the plugin displays a range of customization options …

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

For example, the pie chart offers many configurable options, including:

• 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 looks, click Create Chart …

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

Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to insert graphs and charts into your WordPress posts easily …

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

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

Plugin Usage

After creating a element and adding it to Visualizer, it’s simple to insert it into your content.

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‘ …

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

This inserts a shortcode for the element into your content …

After you have finished adding your visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …

After your page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the result …

Your post or page should display your visual element in where you placed the shortcode …

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

As you can see, Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is very convenient if you’re adding interactive chart data in WordPress.

The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use Visualizer.

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

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create colorful and interactive pie charts and graphs in WordPress.

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