How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
No doubt you’re familiar with the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are presenting or explaining data.
Using graphs and charts can help to break up long or difficult information, and make statistical data and information more easily digestible.
You can present data using tables, but if you want your audience to try and interpret complex data with numbers, percentages and relationships easily, then charts and graphs allow you to present the data in a meaningful and intelligent manner that can be quickly and easily processed.
Graphs and charts help you explain complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts and graphs to WordPress? This tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert interactive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Allows you to add data from your hard drive or an online source of data
- Will resize dynamically for viewing on mobile devices
If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to display your data is to create the graphs or charts using an image editing application, convert these into images and then simply add the image files to your posts or pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to create interactive bars and graphs 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 great free WordPress plugin that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create beautiful and dynamic charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable information.
Visualizer – WordPress Plugin
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WordPress dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or download WordPress Visualizer the WP plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert attractive and interactive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 plugins are needed.
Visualizer also provides 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 the look and feel of your website. Various options are available for each chart that let you fully 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 devices without requiring the installation of extra software.
How To Install Visualizer
Inside your WordPress administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the main menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in “visualizer” into the search field and hit enter …
Locate the item in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
After your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can 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 options …
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 plan to insert into your content.
Visualizer Configuration
To add a new graph or chart to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
A page will appear in your screen displaying all the types of graphs available.
Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your graph/chart type will open 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 contains your column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. boolean, timeofday, 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 study the sample spreadsheet supplied with the plugin.
Once you have created your CSV file, 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‘ …
Locate and select your data file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports the data from the CSV file and displays 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, go here:
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’ve selected, the plugin will display a number of customization settings …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you complete control over your information, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers many 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 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 are satisfied with the look of your graph or chart, click Create Chart …
Your new graph or chart will be added to the Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this lets you easily insert charts and graphs into your content …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After adding an element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or delete it …
Plugin Usage
Once you have created a element and added it to the Library, it’s simple to insert it into your content.
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 Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the element you want to add to your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode for the element into your content …
Once you have added the element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After publishing your page/post, click ‘View post’ to see it …
Your page or post displays the chart or graph in the content …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive graphs and charts for mobile device users …
As you can see, the Visualizer plugin lets you insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and the changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your website. This is a real time-saver if you’re working with interactive graph data in WordPress.
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 WordPress Visualizer.
For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create attractive and interactive charts and graphs in WordPress.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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