How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’ve no doubt heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present and explain data.

Using charts and graphs is a great way to break up content containing a disproportionate amount of text, and make data a lot easier to understand.

You can present data with tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, trends and comparisons easily, then graphs and charts let you present the information in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be easily understood.

Charts and graphs help you explain complex information so people can more easily understand it!

If you want to learn how to display information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site using graphs and charts, this step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how to create great-looking and interactive graphs and charts to your posts and pages that:

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

If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create the charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg or .png images and then simply add the images to your pages or posts.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to easily insert interactive bars and pie charts into your WordPress content with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

Fortunately, there is a great plugin for WordPress users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and dynamic charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic information.

Visualizer – WordPress Plugin

Plugin URL

You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (see further below), or access and download the WP Visualizer plugin 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 insert colorful 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 plugins are required.

The plugin also comes with 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 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 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 device browsers without having to install extra plugins.

Plugin Installation

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 Install Now …

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …

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 section …

After installing the plugin, this section will be empty.

The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to publish to your posts or pages.

How To Configure The Plugin

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

A page will appear on your browser with all the different types of graphs available.

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

Your graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.

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, make sure that:

• The first row includes the column headings.
• The second row contains the series type (e.g. boolean, date, etc.)

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

If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, simply refer to the sample that comes 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 the CSV file and data from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin will now import the data and display it using the graph/chart type you have chosen …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a tutorial that explains 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 your data, make sure that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file with the right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

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

Visualizer gives you total control over your chart or graph, and updates your display in real time …

For example, the pie chart offers various configurable options, including:

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

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

Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this allows you to insert graphs and charts into your WordPress posts quickly …

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

After adding an item to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, duplicate it, or delete it …

Plugin Usage

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

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 the ‘Add Media‘ button …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

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

This inserts a shortcode into your content …

After you have added your visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …

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

You will see your chart in the location you specified …

As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive elements for mobile browsing …

As you can see, WordPress Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is very convenient if you’re managing interactive graph information in WordPress.

The plugin developers have created a number of tutorials you can refer to for ways 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 easily insert appealing and mobile-responsive pie charts and graphs into your WordPress pages with WordPress Visualizer plugin.

***

***