How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve no doubt heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are presenting and explaining data.
Charts and graphs are a great way to break up long passage of text, and make technical or statistical data simpler and easier to grasp.
You can present data using tables, but if you want your audience to try and interpret complex data with figures, percentages or relationships easily, then charts and graphs let you present data in a meaningful and intelligent manner that can be easily understood.
Graphs and charts help present complex information so people can more easily understand it!
If you need to learn how to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site using graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create great-looking and updateable graphs and charts to your pages that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Lets you add data from your computer or an online source of data
- Dynamically resizes for mobile devices
If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison charts or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create your charts or graphs using an image editing application, convert these into images and then simply add the image files to your pages or posts.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to create interactive bar charts and pie charts in WordPress with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a plugin for WordPress sites that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create colorful and mobile-responsive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic data.
Visualizer
Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (see further below), or download the WP Visualizer plugin the WP plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and embed appealing and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 extra plugins or add-ons are needed.
The plugin also comes with a variety of charts 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 your site’s design. A number of 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 web browsers without having to install any extra software.
Plugin Installation
Inside your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the item 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 area …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library from your main menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library screen …
When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to the plugin library.
Visualizer Configuration
To add a chart or graph to the library, click on Add New …
A page will load in your screen displaying all of the built-in types of charts available.
Select the type of chart or graph you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will open up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains the data you would like your chart or graph to be populated with …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- The first row includes your column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. boolean, date, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the above requirements …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply use the sample spreadsheet provided with the plugin.
Once you have done this, select the 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 file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports your data from the CSV file and displays it using the graph/chart type you have previously chosen …
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, 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 containing the right data), and click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve selected, the plugin will display various customization options …
Visualizer gives you complete control of your chart or graph, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers various 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’re happy with the look of your graph or chart, click Create Chart …
The new graph or chart will be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you add charts and graphs to your WordPress pages and posts easily and quickly …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by their type …
After a new graph or chart has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, duplicate it, or delete it …
Visualizer Plugin Usage
Once you have created a element and added it to the Visualizer Library, adding it to posts and pages is quite simple.
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 added to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This inserts a shortcode into your content …
Once you have added your element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …
Once the page/post has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see it …
You will see the chart in the content …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs for viewing on mobile devices …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This makes adding dynamic graph information in WordPress really efficient.
The plugin developers have created a series of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin.
For additional tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, refer to the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create attractive and mobile-responsive charts and graphs in WordPress with WP Visualizer.
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