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 is certainly true when you are trying to present or explain data.
Using graphs and charts can help to make technical data much simpler to grasp.
You can present information using tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, percentages and comparisons more easily, then charts and graphs are perfect for helping them interpret the information.
Charts and graphs help you explain complex data so your audience can more easily understand it!
If you need to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create beautiful and updateable graphs and charts to your WordPress posts that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload chart or graph data from your computer or a web-based data source
- Dynamically resizes for mobile viewers
If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison charts or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to add the information is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into jpg and png files and then simply add your image to your site content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily embed interactive bar charts and graphs into WordPress 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 updateable information.
Visualizer – WP Plugin
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or access and download WordPress Visualizer from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert appealing graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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 components are required.
WordPress Visualizer also comes with a variety of charts that are optimized to address 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. Several options are available for each chart that allow you to 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 web browsers without requiring the installation of any extra software.
How To Install The Plugin
From your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main menu …
In the Add Plugins page type search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …
Once your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in the dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings page …
When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.
The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to insert into your posts or pages.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a new graph or chart to the Visualizer library, click on Add New …
You will be presented with all of the built-in kinds of graphs available.
Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.
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.
- Your second row contains the series type (e.g. string, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as required …
If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, simply use the sample 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 and data from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your data file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will now 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:
After importing your data, make sure that all of the 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 have chosen, the plugin will display a range of customization options and settings …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin 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 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 satisfied with the look of your chart or graph, click Create Chart …
The new graph or chart will now 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 in a moment, this allows you to add graphs and charts to your pages quickly and easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by type …
After adding an item to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, duplicate it, or delete it …
Visualizer Usage
After creating a chart or graph and adding it to the Visualizer Library, it’s 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 want to insert your visual element into the content and click on the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the chart or graph you want to add to your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode for the element into your content …
After you have finished adding your element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After updating the page, click ‘View post’ to see it …
Your post or page should display the chart in the location you specified …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs and charts for mobile screens …
As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your website. This makes working with dynamic graph data in WordPress really efficient.
The plugin developers have created a number of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin.
For additional tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create beautiful and interactive pie charts and graphs in WordPress with WP Visualizer.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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