How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’ve heard the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present and explain data.

Using graphs and charts is a great way to make statistical data simpler and easier to digest.

You can present information with tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, percentages or comparisons quickly, then graphs and charts allow you to present information in an intelligent and meaningful way that can be quickly and easily understood.

Graphs and charts help present complex data so people can more easily understand it!

If you need to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you how to create appealing and interactive graphs and charts to your WP posts that:

• Your web visitors can interact with
• Allows you to upload graph or chart data from your hard drive or a web-based source of data
• Will resize dynamically for mobile viewing

If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create the graphs or charts using an image editing application, convert these into jpg or png images and then simply add the image files to your pages or posts.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

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

Fortunately, there is a free WordPress plugin that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create colorful and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable data.

Visualizer – WordPress Plugin

Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (see a little further below), or access and download Visualizer here:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Description

Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful plugin that lets you create, manage and embed eye-catching and dynamic graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few mouse clicks.

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 addons are needed.

Visualizer also provides 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 the look and feel of your website. A number of options are available for each chart that allow you to 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 web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile devices without having to install any extra software.

How To Install Visualizer

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

In the Add Plugins screen type “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …

Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …

Once your plugin has been activated, click on Library …

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

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

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

The next step is to add add charts and graphs to the library.

Visualizer Plugin Configuration

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

An image gallery displaying all of the types of graphs available will come up on your screen.

Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …

The selected graph/chart type will open up in a new window.

The next step is to upload a CSV file containing the data you want to populate your chart or graph with …

When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …

If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, just study the sample CSV file supplied 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 a CSV file and data from your hard drive 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 you have previously 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, go here:

• How To Populate Data Using Google Spreadsheet

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 then click ‘Next‘ …

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

Visualizer gives you full control over your chart or graph, 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 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 happy with how your graph or chart is looking, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

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

Note that every element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this allows you to add graphs and charts to your posts quickly …

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

After a new element has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or delete it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

After creating a new chart or graph and adding it to the Library, it’s very easy to add it to posts and pages.

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‘ …

Select the chart or graph to be inserted into your content and click on the “insert” icon …

This will place a shortcode into your content …

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

Once the post has been published, click ‘View post’ to see it …

Your chart or graph will show up in your content …

As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive graphs and charts for mobile viewers …

As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is one of the great benefits of using the Visualizer plugin if you’re adding dynamic chart data in WordPress.

The plugin developers have created a series of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin for WordPress.

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

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create appealing and mobile-responsive bar charts and graphs in WordPress with WP Visualizer.

***

***