How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress

No doubt you’re familiar with the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are presenting or explaining complex information.

Graphs and charts help to break up long chunks of text, and make statistical data more easily digestible.

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

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

If you need to present information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how to create colorful and updateable graphs and charts to WordPress that:

• Your site visitors can interact with
• Lets you add data from your computer or a web-based source of data
• Dynamically resizes for mobile viewers

If you are displaying 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 way to add your data is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply add your images to your pages or posts.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to create interactive bar charts and pie graphs in 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 dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable data.

Visualizer

Visualizer URL

You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (see a little further below), or download WP Visualizer the WordPress free plugin repository using the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Description

WP Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful plugin for WordPress that lets you create, manage and insert appealing and interactive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps.

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 extra components 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

WordPress 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 further 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 web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile device browsers without requiring the installation of any extra plugins.

How To Install WP Visualizer

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

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

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

Click OK to continue …

Activate the plugin after installation is successful …

You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …

Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …

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

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

When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.

Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to your plugin library.

How To Configure The Plugin

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

A page will load on your screen with all of the built-in types of graphs available.

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

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

The next step is to upload a CSV file containing all the data you want your chart or graph to be populated with …

When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:

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

The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …

If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, just use the sample CSV file supplied 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 the CSV file and data from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …

Use the browser to 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

For a 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 the 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 correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …

Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve selected, the plugin will display a number of customization options …

The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you full control over your information, and updates your display in real time …

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

• 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 how your graph or chart appears, click Create Chart …

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

Note that each new element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to easily insert charts and graphs into your content …

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

After a new chart or graph has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or delete it …

Plugin Usage

Once you’ve created a element and added it to the Visualizer Library, it’s simple 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 want to insert your visual element into your content and click on Add Media …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

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

This adds a shortcode for the element into your content …

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

Once the post/page has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the results …

You will see the chart or graph in where you’ve added the shortcode …

As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive elements for viewing on mobile devices …

As you can see, WordPress Visualizer allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can change your data and the changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This is one of the great benefits of using the Visualizer plugin if you’re managing dynamic chart data in WordPress.

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

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

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

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

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