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 presenting or explaining data.
Using graphs and charts is useful for making statistical data and information more easily digestible.
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 graphs and charts are perfect for helping them interpret the information.
Graphs and charts help present complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!
If you need to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create attractive and interactive charts to your WordPress pages and posts that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Lets you add data from your hard drive or an online data source
- Dynamically resizes for mobile users
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to display the information is to create your charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into jpg and png files and then simply insert your images into your site content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to create dynamic 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 users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create eye-catching and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable information.
Visualizer
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (explained further below), or access and download the Visualizer plugin here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to create, manage and embed colorful and interactive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in a few mouse clicks.
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 extra plugins or add-ons are needed.
The plugin also comes with a variety of built-in that are optimized to address your data visualization needs, including:
- Line chart
- Area chart
- Bar chart
- Column chart
- Pie chart
- Geo chart
- Gauge chart
- Candlestick chart
- Scatter chart
WordPress 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. A number of options are available for each chart that allow you to further 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 visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile device browsers without having to install any extra software.
How To Install The Visualizer Plugin
From your WordPress admin area, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in “visualizer” into the search field and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library in your dashboard menu …
This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library options …
After installing the plugin, this section will be empty.
The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to publish to your pages and posts.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a new graph or chart to the library, click on the Add New button …
An image gallery displaying all of the default kinds of charts and graphs available will load on your screen.
Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The selected 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, ensure that:
- Your first row contains the column headings.
- Your second row includes the series type (e.g. string, datetime, 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 use the sample that comes with the plugin.
Once you have completed this step, select the data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.
Upload CSV File From Computer
To upload your CSV file from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to 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 tutorial that explains how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, see the article below:
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 right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin displays various customization settings and options …
The plugin gives you complete control of your information, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers various configurable options, such as:
- 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 way your graph or chart appears, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The new chart or graph will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this lets you embed graphs and charts into your pages quickly and easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by their type …
After adding an element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or delete it …
Visualizer Usage
After you’ve created a new chart or graph and added it to Visualizer, it’s easy to insert it into a post or page.
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 your content and click on the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the chart or graph you want to add to your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will add a shortcode into your content …
Once you have added your item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
Once your page/post has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the result …
You will see the graph or chart in the location you specified …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive charts for mobile viewers …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is very convenient if you’re working with interactive chart data in WordPress.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use Visualizer.
For tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to insert eye-catching and interactive pie charts and graphs into WordPress.
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