How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve no doubt heard the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present and explain complex information.
Graphs and charts help to break up long text passages, and make technical data simpler and easier to grasp.
You can present data with tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, trends and comparisons quickly, then charts and graphs allow you to present data in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be quickly and easily understood.
Charts and graphs help present complex information so your audience can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts and graphs to your WordPress content? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert stunning charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few simple steps that:
- Your site visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload graph or chart data from your hard drive or a web-based data source
- Is fully responsive for viewing on mobile devices
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison charts or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create your graphs or charts using an image editing application, convert these into .jpg or .png images and then simply insert the image files into your posts.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily create dynamic bars and pie graphs in 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 users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and mobile-responsive charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable content.
Visualizer – WP Plugin
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (we will explain how to do this a little further down the page), or download the WP Visualizer plugin the WordPress free plugin directory using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Plugin Description
WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert beautiful and dynamic charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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 additional add-ons are needed.
The plugin also comes with 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
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 the look and feel of your website. Various options are available for each chart that let you 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without having to install extra software.
Plugin Installation
Inside your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results screen and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after successfully 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 dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library section …
When you first install the plugin, the library section will be empty.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to the plugin library.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a new chart or graph to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
A gallery displaying all of the built-in kinds of charts and graphs available will come up on your screen.
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 containing the data you would like to populate your chart or graph with …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- Your first row includes your column headings.
- Your second row contains the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the requirements above …
If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, just download the sample CSV file supplied 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 the CSV file and data from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will import your data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type 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:
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 containing the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have picked, the plugin will display a number of customization options and settings …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you full control over 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 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 are satisfied with the look of your graph or chart, click Create Chart …
Your new graph or chart will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in a moment, this allows you to embed graphs and charts into your WordPress content quickly …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by their type …
After a new graph or chart has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
Once you’ve created a new chart or graph and added it to Visualizer, adding it to posts and pages is really very 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 your content and click on the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the graph or chart you want to insert into your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode into your content …
After you have added your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After your post/page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …
Your post or page will display the item in the content …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive charts and graphs for mobile screens …
As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is great if you’re managing dynamic graph data in WordPress.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of tutorials you can refer to 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:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create colorful and interactive pie charts and graphs in WordPress.
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