How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
No doubt you’re familiar with the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are presenting or explaining complex information.
Using graphs and charts can help to make statistical data and information more easily digestible.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with figures, trends or relationships quickly, then graphs and charts allow you to present information in a meaningful and intelligent way that can be quickly and easily understood.
Graphs and charts help you present complex data so your audience can more easily understand it!
Need to add charts and graphs to your WordPress pages? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – an easy-to-use and powerful WP plugin that allows you to create, manage and insert eye-catching graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few mouse clicks that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Lets you upload chart or graph data from your computer or an online data source
- Dynamically resizes for mobile device viewers
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to display the information is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert the files and an image into your site content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to insert interactive bars and pie graphs into WordPress pages 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 great-looking and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable data.
Visualizer Plugin For WordPress
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin in your WordPress dashboard (we explain how to do this a little further down the page), or access and download the WordPress Visualizer plugin the WP free plugin directory using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and embed colorful charts into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 addons are needed.
Visualizer also contains a variety of charts optimized for 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 the look and feel of your website. Several options are available for each chart that allow you to fully customize their look.
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 device browsers without having to install extra plugins.
How To Install Visualizer
From your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the dashboard menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …
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 page …
When you first install the plugin, this section will be empty.
Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to insert into your content.
How To Configure The Plugin
To add a new chart or graph to the Visualizer library, click on the Add New button …
You will see all the different types of graphs available.
Select the type of chart or graph you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will pop up in a lightbox.
The next step is to upload a CSV file with 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, date, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as required …
If you are unsure about how to format your data CSV, simply use the sample supplied with the plugin.
Next, select the data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.
Upload CSV File From Computer
To upload your CSV file from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your data file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will import your data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type you have 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, see the article below:
After importing your data, check that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file containing the correct data), and click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve selected, the plugin will display a number of customization settings …
The plugin gives you complete control of your information, 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 way your chart or graph appears, click Create Chart …
Your chart or graph will be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that each element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this lets you add charts and graphs to your WordPress posts very easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by their type …
After a new item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or delete it …
Plugin Usage
After you’ve created a new element and added it to Visualizer, adding it to your content is really 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 Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the element you want to add to your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will add a shortcode for the element into your content …
Once you have finished adding your item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After publishing your page/post, click ‘View post’ to see it …
Your page or post will display your chart in the location you specified …
As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive graphs for viewing on mobile devices …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This makes working with dynamic chart data in WordPress really easy.
The plugin developers have created a series of tutorials you can use 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:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create stunning and interactive pie charts and graphs in WordPress.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
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