How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’re probably familiar with the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present and explain data.

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

You can present information using tables, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with numbers, trends or comparisons quickly, then graphs and charts allow you to present data in an intelligent and meaningful way that can be easily processed.

Graphs and charts help present complex information so people can more easily interpret it!

If you want to learn how to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how to create and add great-looking and interactive charts to your pages that:

• Your site visitors can engage with
• Allows you to upload chart or graph data from your computer or an online source of data
• Is fully responsive for mobile browsing

If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to display your data is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg and .png files and then simply insert your images into your post or page.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to add interactive bar charts and graphs to WordPress with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

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

Visualizer Plugin For WordPress

Visualizer Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (see a little further down the page), or download WordPress Visualizer the WordPress plugin repository using the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Description

WordPress Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful plugin that lets you create, manage and insert appealing charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few mouse clicks.

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 plugins or add-ons are needed.

The plugin also contains a variety of charts 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 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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without requiring the installation of any extra plugins.

Plugin Installation

Inside your WordPress administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the main menu …

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

Locate Visualizer in the search results section and click Install Now …

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin …

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 selecting Media > Visualizer Library from your admin menu …

This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library options page …

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 will want to display in your posts or pages.

Plugin Configuration

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

You will be presented with all the different kinds of charts available.

Select the type of chart or graph 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 with the data you would like your chart or graph to be populated with …

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …

If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, just use the sample CSV file provided with the plugin.

Once you have completed this step, 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‘ …

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

The plugin imports your data and displays it using the graph/chart type selected …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a step-by-step 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, make sure that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file with the correct data), and click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve picked, the plugin displays various customization options and settings …

The 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, such as:

• General Settings – Configure settings for the chart’s title, 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 happy with how your chart or graph looks, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

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

Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you add charts and graphs to your WordPress content quickly …

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

After adding a chart or graph to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or delete it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

Once you have created a chart or graph and added it to Visualizer, it’s very simple to add it to pages or posts.

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 inserts a shortcode into your content …

Once you have finished adding the element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …

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

Your page or post should display your graph in the location you specified …

As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive elements for mobile browsers …

As you can see, Visualizer lets you insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is a real time-saver if you’re managing interactive graph information in WordPress.

The plugin developers have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to to learn how to edit, customize and use WordPress Visualizer.

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

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create great-looking and mobile-responsive bar charts and graphs in WordPress.

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