How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
No doubt you’re familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you’re presenting or explaining complex data.
Using graphs and charts is great for making statistical data and information more easily digestible.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with figures, percentages and comparisons more easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them interpret the data.
Charts and graphs help you explain complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts or graphs to your WordPress pages and posts? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to use WordPress Visualizer – an easy-to-use and powerful WP plugin that lets you create, manage and insert attractive and interactive charts into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few mouse clicks that:
- Your site visitors can engage with
- Allows you to add data from your computer or a web-based source of data
- Is responsive for mobile viewing
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create your graphs or charts using an image editing application, convert these into jpg or png images and then simply insert the images into your pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily create dynamic bar charts and graphs 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 sites 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 dynamic data.
WP Plugin: Visualizer
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (explained further below), or download Visualizer from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful WP plugin that allows you to create, manage and insert appealing charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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.
WordPress Visualizer also comes with a variety of charts optimized for 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 your site’s design. Various options are available for each chart that allow you to 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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without requiring the installation of extra plugins.
How To Install The Plugin
From your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …
In the Add Plugins page type “visualizer” into the search field and hit enter …
Locate the item in the search results area and click Install Now …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
After your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library in your main menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library screen …
When you first install the plugin, the library contains no charts.
Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to insert into your content.
How To Configure Visualizer
To add a chart or graph to the library, click on Add New …
A page will load on your browser displaying all the different kinds of graphs 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 your data …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- Your first row includes your column headings.
- Your second row includes the series type (e.g. boolean, date, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …
If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, just study the sample CSV file supplied with the plugin.
Once you have completed this step, select your data source (‘From Computer’ or ‘From Web’) in the ‘Upload CSV File’ section.
Upload CSV File From Computer
To upload your CSV file and data from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your data file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will now import your data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type selected …
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 data file with the right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve picked, the plugin displays a range of customization options …
The plugin gives you full control over 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 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 way your chart or graph is looking, click Create Chart …
The chart or graph will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to add graphs and charts to your content easily …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by type …
After a new item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or trash it …
Plugin Usage
After creating a new chart or graph and adding it to the Visualizer Library, adding it to a page or post is really very 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 the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the graph or chart you want to insert into your content and click the “insert” icon …
This adds a shortcode into your content …
After you have added the visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After updating your post/page, click ‘View post’ to see the result …
The visual element will show in the content …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive charts for mobile viewing …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can change your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This makes managing interactive graph data in WordPress really efficient.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin.
For tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, refer to the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create eye-catching and mobile-responsive 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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