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 data.

Using graphs and charts is a great way to break up long text passages, and make technical data easier to digest.

You can use tables to present information, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, trends and comparisons easily, then charts and graphs allow you to present the 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 learn how to present information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create and add eye-catching and updateable charts and graphs to your WordPress pages and posts that:

• Your site visitors can interact with
• Lets you upload data from your hard drive or an online data source
• Is fully responsive for mobile devices

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

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to create dynamic bars and pie charts in WordPress with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

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

Visualizer

Visualizer URL

You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (we explain how to do this further down the page), or download the WordPress Visualizer plugin from the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Plugin Description

The Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed mobile-responsive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in a few mouse clicks.

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 additional plugins or add-ons are required.

WordPress 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 your site’s design. Various options are available for each chart that let you 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 visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without requiring the installation of extra plugins.

How To Install The Visualizer Plugin

From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …

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

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

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin after installation is successful …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …

After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

You can also 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 page …

When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.

Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to your library.

Visualizer Configuration

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

A page will load on your screen displaying all of the default kinds of graphs and charts available.

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

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

The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains all the data you would like your chart or graph to be populated with …

When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data as required …

If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, simply refer to the sample spreadsheet that comes with the plugin.

Next, select your 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 computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin will now import your data 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:

• 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 with the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you have chosen, the plugin displays a range of customization options …

Visualizer gives you complete control over your information, 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 satisfied with the look of your chart or graph, click Create Chart …

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

Note that every new element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to easily embed charts and graphs into your content …

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

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

Plugin Usage

After creating a chart or graph and adding it to the Visualizer Library, adding it to a post or page is really very simple.

First, create a new post or page (or open an existing one) …

Next, place your mouse cursor where you would like to insert your visual element into your content and click on Add Media …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

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

This adds a shortcode for the element into your content …

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

Once your post has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the results …

The graph or chart will show up in the location you specified …

As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs and charts for mobile viewing …

As you can see, 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 wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This is very convenient if you’re managing dynamic graph information in WordPress.

The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step 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, refer to the site below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to insert great-looking and mobile-responsive charts and graphs into WordPress with WP Visualizer.

***

***