How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve heard the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present and explain data.
Using graphs and charts is a great way to make technical or statistical data more easily digestible.
You can present information with tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex information with figures, percentages and comparisons more easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them interpret your information.
Graphs and charts help you explain complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!
If you need to learn how to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create and add appealing and updateable graphs and charts to your pages and posts that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Allows you to upload data from your computer or a web-based data source
- Will resize dynamically for mobile screens
If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), an easier way to display this data is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg and .png files and then simply add the image to your site content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily create interactive bar charts and pie graphs in your WordPress pages 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 charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable information.
Visualizer – WordPress Plugin
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (we will show you how to do this a little further down the page), or access and download Visualizer here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed stunning and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps.
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 plugins are required.
WordPress Visualizer also comes with a variety of built-in that are optimized to address 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 web design. A number of options are available for each chart that let you 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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without having to install additional plugins.
How To Install WordPress Visualizer
Inside your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins page type search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results area and click Install Now …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …
Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in your dashboard menu …
This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings screen …
When you first install the plugin, this section will be empty.
The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to publish to your content.
Plugin Configuration
To add a chart or graph to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
A gallery displaying all of the kinds of charts available will load on your screen.
Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The selected graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.
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 includes your column headings.
- The second row includes the series type (e.g. number, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, just refer to the sample file provided with the plugin.
Once you have created your CSV file, 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 and data from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports your data and displays it using the graph/chart type chosen …
Upload CSV File From The Web
To learn how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, go here:
After importing the data, make sure that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file with the correct data), and click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type selected, the plugin displays a range of customization settings …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you complete control of your chart or graph, 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 a 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’re satisfied with the look of your chart or graph, click Create Chart …
Your new chart or graph will be added to the Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you insert graphs and charts into your posts very easily …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by type …
After adding a new chart or graph to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or delete it …
Visualizer Usage
After you’ve created a graph or chart and added it to the Library, adding it to pages or posts is really 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 the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the element you want to insert into your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This inserts a shortcode into your content …
Once you have added your element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After publishing the post/page, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
You will see the graph or chart in where you placed the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive graphs and charts for viewing on mobile devices …
As you can see, the Visualizer plugin lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in 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 developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin for WordPress.
For additional tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add colorful and dynamic pie charts and graphs to your WordPress content.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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