How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve heard the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present or explain complex data.
Using charts and graphs can help to break up long text passages, and make technical or statistical data simpler and easier to grasp.
You can present data using tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, trends and comparisons more easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them interpret the data.
Graphs and charts help present complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts and graphs to WordPress? This tutorial shows you how to use WordPress Visualizer – an easy-to-use and powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to create, manage and embed stunning and interactive charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Allows you to upload graph or chart data from your hard drive or a web-based source of data
- Will dynamically resize for mobile device viewing
If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to add your information is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert your image files into your page or post.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to insert interactive bar charts and pie charts into 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 great-looking and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable content.
Visualizer Plugin For WordPress
Plugin URL
You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (see further down the page), or download WordPress Visualizer from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Plugin Description
The WP Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert appealing graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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 additional add-ons are needed.
The plugin also contains a variety of charts 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. Several options are available for each chart that allow you to fully 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 requiring the installation of additional plugins.
How To Install The Plugin
Inside your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results section and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin after installation is successful …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library in the dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings screen …
After installing the plugin, the library contains no charts.
The next step is to add add charts and graphs to the library.
How To Configure The Visualizer Plugin
To add a new chart or graph to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
An image gallery displaying all of the types of charts available will load on your screen.
Select the type of graph or chart you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The graph/chart type will open up in a new window.
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 the column headings.
- Your second row contains the series type (e.g. string, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the requirements above …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply study the sample provided with the plugin.
Once you have completed this step, select the 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 computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports the data from the CSV file 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:
After importing the 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 then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve picked, the plugin will display a number of customization settings …
Visualizer gives you full control of 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 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 chart or graph, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The chart or graph will now be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that every element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this lets you easily embed graphs and charts into your content …
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, clone it, or delete it …
Plugin Usage
After you’ve created a chart or graph and added it to the Library, adding it to a page or post 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 the content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the element to be added to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This will add a shortcode into your content …
Once you have finished adding your visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After your page/post has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
Your graph or chart will show up in where you have added the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive elements for mobile browsers …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to add 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 website. This makes working with interactive chart information in WordPress very easy.
The plugin developers have created a number of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin.
For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create attractive and interactive charts and graphs in WordPress.
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