How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’ve heard the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re presenting or explaining complex data.

Using charts and graphs is a great way to make technical data much simpler to digest.

You can use tables to present information, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, percentages or comparisons easily, then graphs and charts let you present data in a meaningful and intelligent way that can be quickly and easily understood.

Graphs and charts help you explain complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!

If you need to learn how to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site using charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create and add attractive and interactive charts and graphs to your WP posts that:

• Your web visitors can interact with
• Lets you upload graph or chart data from your computer or a web-based source of data
• Is fully responsive for mobile browsing

If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply add the images to your pages.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

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

Fortunately, there is a free WordPress plugin 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 updateable content.

Visualizer

Plugin URL

You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (explained further down the page), or 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 insert colorful charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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 additional addons 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 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 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 device browsers without having to install any additional software.

How To Install The Plugin

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

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

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

Click OK to proceed …

Activate the plugin after installation is successful …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …

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 takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library section …

After installing the plugin, the library will contain no charts.

The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to display in your posts or pages.

Plugin Configuration

To add a chart or graph to the plugin’s library, click on the Add New button …

A page will load on your screen displaying all of the default types of graphs and charts available.

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

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

The next step is to upload a CSV file with your data …

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

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

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

If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, simply refer to the sample spreadsheet supplied with the plugin.

Once you have completed this step, 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 from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin will import your data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type you have 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, see the article below:

• How To Populate Data Using Google Spreadsheet

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 right data), and click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type selected, the plugin displays various customization options and settings …

Visualizer gives you complete 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 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 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 the look of your graph or chart, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

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

Note that every element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you easily insert charts and graphs into your content …

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

After adding a chart or graph to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or delete it …

Plugin Usage

After you’ve created a chart or graph and added it to Visualizer, it’s simple to add it to a post or page.

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 your content and click on the ‘Add Media‘ button …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

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

This will add a shortcode for the element into your content …

After you have finished adding your item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …

After your post/page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see it …

You will see your visual element in the location you specified …

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

As you can see, Visualizer lets you insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This makes adding interactive chart data in WordPress very efficient.

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

For additional 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 create colorful and dynamic pie charts and graphs in WordPress with WordPress Visualizer.

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