How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’re probably familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present or explain complex information.
Using charts and graphs is useful for making data more easily digestible.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex information with figures, trends and relationships easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them interpret the data.
Charts and graphs help you explain complex information so your audience can more easily interpret it!
If you need to learn how to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site using charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you how to create colourful and updatable charts and graphs to WordPress that:
- Your site visitors can engage with
- Allows you to add data from your hard drive or an online data source
- Will dynamically resize for mobile viewers
If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to present your data is to create your charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into jpg and png images and then simply insert the files and an image into your web content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily embed dynamic bar charts and pie graphs into WordPress posts with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and dynamic charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic information.
Visualizer
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard (we will show you how to do this a little further down the page), or download the Visualizer plugin the WP plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert mobile-responsive charts into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few simple steps.
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 additional plugins are needed.
WordPress Visualizer also contains a variety of built-in 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
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 your site’s design. A number of options are available for each chart that allow you to 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 web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without requiring the installation of any additional plugins.
Plugin Installation
From your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins page type search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in the admin menu …
This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library page …
When you first install the plugin, the library will contain no charts.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to the plugin library.
How To Configure Visualizer
To add a new graph or chart to the plugin’s library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …
A visual gallery displaying all the different kinds of charts and graphs available will load on your screen.
Select the chart or graph type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will pop up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file with your data …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- The first row contains the column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the above requirements …
If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, just study the sample CSV file supplied with the plugin.
Once you have done this, 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 hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your data file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will import your data and display it using the graph/chart type you have previously 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, go here:
After importing the data, check that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file with the right 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 WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you total control of your information, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers various 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’re satisfied with the way your chart or graph appears, click Create Chart …
Your chart or graph will be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this allows you to easily insert graphs and charts into your content …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by their type …
After adding a chart or graph to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or delete it …
Visualizer Usage
Once you have created a new graph or chart and added it to the Visualizer Library, it’s very 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 would like to insert your visual element into your content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the graph or chart you want to add to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This adds a shortcode for the element into your content …
After you have finished adding the element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
Once your page/post has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …
The chart will display in where you have inserted the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive graphs for mobile viewers …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This makes adding interactive graph data in WordPress really easy.
The plugin developers 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, go to the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add great-looking and dynamic charts and graphs to your WordPress content.
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