How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

No doubt you’re familiar with the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you’re trying to present and explain complex data.

Using graphs and charts is great for making statistical data and information more easily digestible.

You can present data using tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, percentages and relationships more easily, then charts and graphs let you present the information in a meaningful and intelligent way that can be easily processed.

Graphs and charts help you present complex information so people can more easily interpret it!

If you want to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you how to create eye-catching and updatable charts to your pages and posts that:

• Your site visitors can interact with
• Lets you upload chart or graph data from your hard drive or an online source of data
• Will resize dynamically for mobile users

If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison charts or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to add this information is to create your charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert your files and an image into your posts.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to add interactive 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 free plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create colorful and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic information.

Visualizer – WP Plugin

Visualizer URL

You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (explained further down the page), or access and download Visualizer here:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Plugin Description

WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and embed colorful and dynamic graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps.

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 add-ons are needed.

The plugin also comes with a variety of built-in 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

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 your site’s design. A number of options are available for each chart that let you fully 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile devices without requiring the installation of any extra plugins.

How To Install The Plugin

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

In the Add Plugins screen type “visualizer” into the search field and hit enter …

Locate the item in the search results section and click Install Now …

Click OK to continue …

Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …

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 your main menu …

This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library screen …

When you first install 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 new graph or chart to the Visualizer library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …

You will see all of the default types of charts available.

Select the type of graph or chart 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 containing your data …

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data …

If you are unsure about how to format your data CSV, just download the sample provided with the plugin.

Once you have done this, select the 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 computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin will import the data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type 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 your data, check 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 selected, the plugin will display a range of customization settings …

Visualizer gives you total control over your information, 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 are happy with how your chart or graph appears, click Create Chart …

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

Note that every new element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you add charts and graphs to your pages quickly …

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 its details, clone it, or delete it …

Visualizer Usage

After creating a new element and adding it to the Library, it’s very easy to insert it into a post.

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‘ …

Find the element to be added to your content and click on the “insert” icon …

This will place a shortcode into your content …

Once you have finished adding your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …

After the page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the result …

You will see your item in the location where you placed the shortcode …

As mentioned earlier, the plugin 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 the changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your website. This makes working with interactive graph information in WordPress very efficient.

The developers of this plugin have created a series of tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin for WordPress.

For additional tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the site below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create colorful and dynamic pie charts and graphs in WordPress.

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