How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’re probably familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re presenting or explaining complex information.

Using graphs and charts is useful for making data more easily digestible.

You can use tables to present information, but if you want people to try and interpret complex information with numbers, percentages or relationships easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them understand your data.

Charts and graphs help you present complex information so your audience can more easily interpret it!

If you need to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site using graphs and charts, this step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create attractive and updateable charts and graphs to your WordPress posts that:

• Your visitors can engage with
• Allows you to add graph or chart data from your computer or a web-based source of data
• Will dynamically resize for mobile viewers

If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create your charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert the files and an image into your posts or pages.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to easily create dynamic bars and pie graphs in 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 stunning and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic information.

Visualizer

Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (see further down the page), or access and download Visualizer the WordPress plugin directory using the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Plugin Description

WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed attractive and interactive charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just 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 plugins or add-ons are required.

Visualizer also provides a variety of charts that are optimized to address 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 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 let you customize their settings.

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 browsers without having to install any additional plugins.

How To Install The Plugin

Inside your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …

In the Add Plugins page type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …

Locate Visualizer in the search results screen and click the “Install Now” button …

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin after installation is successful …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …

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 the main menu …

This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library options …

After installing the plugin, the library contains no charts.

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 library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …

You will see all of the different types of graphs available.

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

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

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

When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …

If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, simply refer to the sample CSV file supplied 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 hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …

Locate and select your data file and then click on ‘Open‘ …

The plugin imports your data from the CSV file and displays it using the graph/chart type you have selected …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a step-by-step tutorial that shows you 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 the data, make sure that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file containing the correct data), and click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin displays various customization settings …

The WordPress Visualizer 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 are satisfied with the way your graph or chart is looking, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

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

Note that each new element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this lets you add charts and graphs to your posts easily …

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

After adding a new item to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, duplicate it, or trash it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

Once you’ve created a chart or graph and added it to Visualizer, it’s quite simple to insert it into your posts or 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 the content and click on Add Media …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

Select the element you want to insert into your content and click on the “insert” icon …

This adds a shortcode into your content …

After you have finished adding the element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …

After updating the post, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …

You will see your item in the content …

As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs for mobile browsing …

As you can see, Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can change your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This is a real time-saver if you’re managing dynamic graph 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 tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to add eye-catching and dynamic charts and graphs to WordPress with WordPress Visualizer.

***

***