How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
No doubt you’re familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are presenting and explaining complex information.
Using graphs and charts is useful for breaking up content that contains too much text, and making technical or statistical data a lot easier to grasp.
You can use tables to present information, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, percentages or comparisons quickly, then charts and graphs are perfect for helping them interpret the information.
Graphs and charts help present complex data so people can more easily understand it!
If you need to learn how to display dynamic visual content on your WordPress site using charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you how to create beautiful and interactive graphs and charts to your posts that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Allows you to upload data from your hard drive or an online source of data
- Is dynamically responsive for mobile viewing
If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to add your information is to create the charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert the images into your page or post.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to create dynamic bars and graphs in your WordPress content with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a great free plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and mobile-responsive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic data.
Visualizer
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (explained further below), or access and download the WordPress Visualizer plugin from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Plugin Description
WP Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful WP plugin that lets you create, manage and embed stunning and mobile-responsive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few mouse clicks.
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 addons are needed.
The plugin 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 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. A number of options are available for each chart that allow you to fully 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 devices without having to install any additional software.
Plugin Installation
Inside your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the dashboard menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library from your admin 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 the plugin library.
Visualizer Configuration
To add a new chart or graph to the plugin’s library, click on Add New …
A visual gallery displaying all the different kinds of charts and graphs available will come up on your screen.
Select the type of chart or graph you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your graph/chart type will pop up in a lightbox.
The next step is to upload a CSV file containing your data …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- The first row includes your column headings.
- The second row includes the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, just use the sample file supplied with the plugin.
Next, select your 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 your data and displays it using the graph/chart type you have previously 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:
After importing the data, make sure that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file with the right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve picked, the plugin displays various customization options …
Visualizer gives you full control over 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 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 graph or chart, click Create Chart …
The chart or graph will be added to your ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this allows you to insert charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages very quickly …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After an item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
After creating a new element and adding it to the Visualizer Library, it’s simple to insert it into a page or 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 graph or chart to be added to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This inserts a shortcode into your content …
Once you have added the shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After publishing your page/post, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …
You will see your chart in your content …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs and charts for mobile users …
As you can see, Visualizer lets you insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can change your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This is a real time-saving feature of the plugin if you’re managing interactive graph 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 the Visualizer plugin.
For additional tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create stunning and dynamic charts and graphs in WordPress.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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