How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve no doubt heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re trying to present and explain data.
Using charts and graphs is useful for making statistical data and information more easily digestible.
You can present information with tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex data with figures, percentages or relationships more easily, then charts and graphs allow you to present the information in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be quickly and easily processed.
Graphs and charts help explain complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
If you want to present information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create and add beautiful and interactive charts to your posts and pages that:
- Your visitors can interact with
- Allows you to upload data from your computer or an online source of data
- Resizes dynamically for viewing on mobile devices
If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to present your data is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert your image files into your pages or posts.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily 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 great free plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create beautiful and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable information.
WordPress Plugin: Visualizer
Plugin URL
You can install the plugin inside your WordPress dashboard (see further down the page), or download WordPress Visualizer the WordPress free plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Plugin Description
The WP Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed colorful graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 additional plugins or add-ons are required.
Visualizer also provides 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 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. Several 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without requiring the installation of any extra plugins.
How To Install WordPress Visualizer
From your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results section and click Install Now …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
Once your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library in the dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library options …
When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.
The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to display in your content.
Plugin Configuration
To add a graph or chart to the Visualizer library, click on ‘Add New’ …
You will see all of the default kinds of graphs and charts available.
Select the type of graph or chart you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.
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, ensure that:
- Your first row contains the column headings.
- Your second row includes the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data …
If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, just study the sample supplied 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 and data from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your data 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 then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve selected, the plugin displays a range of customization options …
Visualizer gives you total control over 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 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 chart or graph appears, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
Your graph or chart will be added to your ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that every new element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you add graphs and charts to your WordPress pages quickly …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After adding a new element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, clone it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
After creating a new chart or graph and adding it to Visualizer, adding it to posts and pages is really 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 your content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the graph or chart you want to insert into your content and click the “insert” icon …
This adds a shortcode into your content …
Once you have finished adding the visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …
Once your page has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
Your page or post should display your visual element in the location you specified …
As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive graphs for mobile browsing …
As you can see, Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This is very convenient if you’re working with interactive graph information in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a number of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin for WordPress.
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 add attractive and mobile-responsive charts and graphs to WordPress with WordPress Visualizer.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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