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 are trying to present or explain data.

Using graphs and charts can help to break up long chunks of technical information, and make statistical data more easily digestible.

You can present data using tables, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with figures, trends or relationships more easily, then graphs and charts let you present your information in a meaningful and intelligent manner that can be quickly understood.

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

If you want to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create colorful and updateable charts to your WordPress posts that:

• Your visitors can engage with
• Allows you to upload chart or graph data from your hard drive or a web-based data source
• Is fully responsive for mobile devices

If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg and .png files and then simply add the image to your page or post.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

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

Fortunately, there is a plugin for WordPress users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create beautiful and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic content.

Visualizer

Visualizer Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (we show you how to do this a little further below), or access and download the Visualizer plugin here:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Plugin Description

WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed appealing graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps.

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 additional addons are required.

The plugin also contains a variety of built-in 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 a flexible and customizable plugin, allowing you to use Google Chart Tools with their default setting, or configure an extensive set of options to match your site’s design. Various options are available for each chart that let you 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 browsers without having to install additional software.

Plugin Installation

Inside your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …

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

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

Click OK to proceed …

Activate the plugin …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …

After your plugin has been activated, click on Library …

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

This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library options screen …

After installing the plugin, the library will contain no charts.

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

Visualizer Configuration

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

A gallery displaying all of the built-in 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 …

Your graph/chart type will pop 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:

• Your first row contains 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 explained above …

If you are unsure about how to format your data CSV, simply refer to the sample spreadsheet provided with the plugin.

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

Upload CSV File From Computer

To upload the CSV file from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …

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 you have selected …

Upload CSV File From The Web

To learn 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 new data file containing the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin will display various customization options …

Visualizer gives you total control of your chart or graph, 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 happy with the look of your graph or chart, click Create Chart …

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

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

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

After a graph or chart has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or delete it …

Visualizer Usage

After you have created a new graph or chart and added it to the Library, it’s really simple to insert it into a 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‘ …

Find the chart or graph you want to add to your content and click on the “insert” icon …

This will add a shortcode into your content …

Once you have finished adding your item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …

Once your post/page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the results …

Your item will display in the location where you placed the shortcode …

As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive charts for mobile users …

As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to insert 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 working with interactive chart information in WordPress.

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

For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the website below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create eye-catching and dynamic bar charts and graphs in WordPress.

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