How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’re probably familiar with the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are presenting or explaining data.
Graphs and charts are a great way to make technical or statistical data simpler to grasp.
You can present data with tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, trends or relationships easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them visualize the information.
Charts and graphs help you present complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
If you need to learn how to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how to create attractive and updateable charts and graphs to your posts and pages that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Lets you upload graph or chart data from your hard drive or an online source of data
- Is fully responsive for mobile viewing
If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into jpg or png images and then simply add your image to your pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily create dynamic bars and graphs in your WordPress pages with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a great plugin for WordPress users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create eye-catching 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 access and download WP Visualizer the WordPress plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
WordPress Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful plugin that lets you create, manage and embed stunning charts into your WordPress posts and pages with a few mouse clicks.
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 plugins are required.
The plugin also provides a variety of charts 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 a flexible and customizable plugin, 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 allow you to further customize their look.
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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without requiring the installation of extra software.
Plugin Installation
From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results area and click Install Now …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library from the dashboard menu …
This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library options page …
After installing the plugin, the library section will be empty.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to the library.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a new chart or graph to the library, click on the Add New button …
You will be presented with all of the different types of charts and graphs available.
Select the type of chart or graph 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 with the data you want your chart or graph to be populated with …
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, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the requirements above …
If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, just download the sample provided 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 computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your 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
To learn how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, go here:
After importing your data, check 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 selected, the plugin displays a range of customization settings and options …
The plugin gives you full control of your chart or graph, 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’re happy with the way your graph or chart is looking, click Create Chart …
The 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 very soon, this allows you to insert graphs and charts into your pages and posts quickly and easily …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After a new element has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or delete it …
Visualizer Usage
After you’ve created a new element and added it to the Library, adding it to posts or pages is really simple.
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 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 shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After the page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see it …
Your page or post will display your graph in the content …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive charts for mobile viewers …
As you can see, Visualizer lets you insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This makes working with dynamic graph information in WordPress very easy.
The developers of this plugin have created a number of 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, visit the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create beautiful and interactive charts and graphs in WordPress.
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