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’re presenting or explaining data.
Using graphs and charts can help to break up long text passages, and make statistical data and information more easily digestible.
You can present information using tables, but if you want people to try and interpret complex information with numbers, trends or relationships easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them visualize your data.
Charts and graphs help you explain complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts or graphs to your WordPress pages? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to use WordPress Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed colorful graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Allows you to upload chart or graph data from your computer or a web-based source of data
- Resizes dynamically for mobile browsing
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison bars or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert your image files into your post or page.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add dynamic bar charts and pie charts to WordPress with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a great free WordPress plugin 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 dynamic information.
WordPress Plugin: Visualizer
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard (we show you how to do this further below), or access and download WordPress Visualizer from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed colorful and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 components are required.
WordPress Visualizer also contains a variety of built-in 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. Several options are available for each chart that allow you to 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 browsers without requiring the installation of additional plugins.
Plugin Installation
From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …
Locate the entry in the search results area and click Install Now …
Click OK to go ahead …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
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 admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library page …
When you first install the plugin, this section will be empty.
The next step is to add add charts and graphs to your library.
How To Configure The Plugin
To add a chart or graph to the Visualizer library, click on Add New …
A gallery displaying all of the built-in types of charts and graphs available will load on your screen.
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 all the data you want to populate your chart or graph with …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- Your first row contains the column headings.
- Your second row includes the series type (e.g. string, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …
If you are unsure about how to format your data CSV, simply study the sample provided with the plugin.
Once you have created your CSV file, 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 and data from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your data file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will now import the 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, go here:
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 then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have chosen, the plugin will display a number of customization options …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you total control of 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 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 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’re satisfied with the look of your graph or chart, click Create Chart …
The graph or chart will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you embed graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages easily and quickly …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by their type …
After adding a chart or graph to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
After creating a chart or graph and adding it to Visualizer, adding it to pages and posts is really 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 the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the graph or chart you want to insert into your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode into your content …
After you have added your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After your page/post has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the result …
Your page or post displays your item in where you have added the shortcode …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive elements for mobile screens …
As you can see, Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is very convenient if you’re managing interactive chart data in WordPress.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use Visualizer.
For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create great-looking and mobile-responsive charts and graphs in WordPress.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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