How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’re probably familiar with the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present or explain data.

Charts and graphs are a great way to make statistical data simpler and easier to digest.

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

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

Need to add charts and graphs to your WordPress posts and pages? This tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert attractive and interactive charts into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps that:

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

If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison bars or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create the charts or graphs using an image editing application, convert these into images and then simply add your image to your content.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

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

Fortunately, there is a great plugin for WordPress sites 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 updateable data.

Visualizer Plugin For WordPress

Visualizer Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or download WP Visualizer here:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Description

The WordPress Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert beautiful and interactive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages with just 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 extra addons are required.

The plugin also contains a variety of built-in that are optimized to address all your data visualization needs, including:

• Line chart
• Area chart
• Bar chart
• Column chart
• Pie chart
• Geo chart
• Gauge chart
• Candlestick chart
• Scatter chart

The plugin 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 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 web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile devices without requiring the installation of additional plugins.

Plugin Installation

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

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

Locate the entry in the search results screen and click Install Now …

Click OK to continue …

Activate the plugin after installing it …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …

After your plugin has been activated, click on Library …

You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library in the admin menu …

This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings …

After installing the plugin, this section will be empty.

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

How To Configure The Visualizer Plugin

To add a new graph or chart to the Visualizer library, click on Add New …

A page will load in your screen displaying all of the default types of graphs available.

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

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

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

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the above requirements …

If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, just use the sample spreadsheet that comes 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 your CSV file and data from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin imports the data and displays it using the graph/chart type chosen …

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:

• 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 have selected, the plugin displays various customization options and settings …

The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you complete 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 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 the look of your graph or chart, click Create Chart …

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

Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this lets you embed graphs and charts into your pages quickly and easily …

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

After a new item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or trash it …

Visualizer Plugin Usage

After creating a element and adding 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 the ‘Add Media‘ button …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

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

This adds a shortcode into your content …

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

After publishing your post, click ‘View post’ to see the results …

The item will show in the location you specified …

As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive elements for mobile users …

As you can see, Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This makes managing interactive chart information in WordPress very efficient.

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

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

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

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

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