How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

You’ve heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are presenting and explaining complex information.

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

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

Graphs and charts help explain complex information so people can more easily understand it!

Need to add charts or graphs to your WordPress pages? This tutorial shows you how to use WordPress Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful WP plugin that allows you to create, manage and embed eye-catching and dynamic charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages that:

• Your site visitors can engage with
• Lets you add graph or chart data from your hard drive or a web-based data source
• Is responsive for mobile device screens

If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs that contain 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 page or post.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to add dynamic bars and pie graphs 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 sites that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create attractive and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable content.

Visualizer

Visualizer Plugin URL

You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (explained further down the page), or 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 lets you create, manage and insert beautiful charts 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 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 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without having to install additional plugins.

How To Install The Visualizer Plugin

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

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

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

Click OK to proceed …

Activate the plugin …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …

Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

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

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

After installing the plugin, this section will be empty.

The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to insert into your content.

How To Configure The Plugin

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

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

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

The selected graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.

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.
• The second row includes the series type (e.g. number, datetime, etc.)

The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …

If you are unsure about how to format your data CSV, just use the sample file supplied with the plugin.

Once you have created your CSV file, select the data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.

Upload CSV File From Computer

To upload a CSV file from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …

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

The plugin will import the data and display it using the graph/chart type selected …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a step-by-step tutorial that explains 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, check that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file containing the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you have chosen, the plugin will display a range of customization options …

Visualizer gives you full control over 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 satisfied with the way your chart or graph appears, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …

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

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

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

After adding an element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or trash it …

Plugin Usage

After you have created a new element and added it to the Visualizer Library, it’s very 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 would like to insert your visual element into the content and click on Add Media …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

Find the element to be inserted into your content and click the “insert” icon …

This inserts a shortcode into your content …

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

After the post/page has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see it …

The chart or graph will show up in the location you specified …

As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive elements for mobile browsers …

As you can see, the Visualizer plugin lets you add 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 makes working with interactive chart information in WordPress really efficient.

The developers of this plugin have created a number of step-by-step tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use Visualizer.

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 add colorful and dynamic pie charts and graphs to WordPress with WordPress Visualizer.

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