How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re presenting or explaining complex information.
Using graphs and charts is great for making data more easily digestible.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want your audience to try and interpret complex data with numbers, trends and relationships easily, then graphs and charts let you present the information in an intelligent and meaningful way that can be easily understood.
Charts and graphs help you present complex data so people can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts and graphs to your WordPress pages? This tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and embed eye-catching graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in a few mouse clicks that:
- Your visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload data from your computer or a web-based data source
- Will resize dynamically for mobile device users
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison bars or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create the charts or graphs using an image editing application, convert these into jpg and png images and then simply add your image to your pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add dynamic bars and graphs to 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 great WordPress plugin that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and dynamic charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic information.
Visualizer
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (we will show you how to do this further below), or download WP Visualizer here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert attractive and interactive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 components are needed.
The plugin 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 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 site’s design. A number of options are available for each chart that let you further 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without having to install extra plugins.
How To Install Visualizer
Inside your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
After your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library in your admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings page …
When you first install the plugin, this section will be empty.
The next step is to add add charts and graphs to your plugin library.
Plugin Configuration
To add a graph or chart to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
You will be presented with all of the default types of graphs available.
Select the type of graph or chart you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will pop up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains all the data you want to populate your chart or graph with …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- The first row includes the column headings.
- Your second row contains the series type (e.g. string, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, just download the sample supplied 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‘ …
Locate and select your file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will now import the data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type selected …
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:
After importing the 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 you have chosen, the plugin displays a range of customization settings …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you full 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 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 graph or chart looks, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
Your graph or chart will now 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 easily embed graphs and charts into your content …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by their type …
After a new element has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
After creating a new graph or chart and adding it to the Library, adding it to a page is quite simple.
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 Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the chart or graph to be inserted into your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This inserts a shortcode into your content …
After you have finished adding your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After updating the page/post, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …
You will see your element in where you’ve inserted the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive charts and graphs for mobile viewing …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can change your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This is one of the great benefits of using the Visualizer plugin if you’re managing interactive graph information in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a series of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use WordPress Visualizer.
For tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to insert appealing bar charts and graphs into WordPress.
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