How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
No doubt you’re familiar with the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present or explain complex data.
Using charts and graphs can help to make technical data easier to grasp.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with figures, percentages or relationships easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them understand your information.
Charts and graphs help you present complex information so people can more easily understand it!
Need to add charts and graphs to WordPress? This tutorial shows you how to use the WP Visualizer plugin – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed appealing charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages that:
- Your visitors can interact with
- Allows you to upload data from your computer or an online source of data
- Dynamically resizes for mobile viewing
If you are displaying visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply insert your image into your site content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily create dynamic bars and pie graphs in WordPress with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a great plugin for WordPress users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create attractive and interactive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable content.
Visualizer – WordPress Plugin
Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (see a little further down the page), or access and download WP Visualizer the WordPress plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful plugin for WordPress that allows you to create, manage and embed stunning and mobile-responsive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few mouse clicks.
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 components are required.
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
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 your site’s design. Various options are available for each chart that let you fully 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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without having to install any additional software.
Plugin Installation
From your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Click OK to go ahead …
Activate the plugin …
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 choosing Media > Visualizer Library in your admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library options …
When you first install the plugin, the library will contain no charts.
Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to insert into your content.
How To Configure Visualizer
To add a graph or chart to the Visualizer library, click on the Add New button …
You will see all of the different types of graphs available.
Select the graph or chart 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 that contains your data …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- Your first row includes your column headings.
- Your second row contains the series type (e.g. string, date, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply download the sample provided 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 the 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 and displays it using the graph/chart type selected …
Upload CSV File From The Web
For a step-by-step 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 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 correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin displays a number of customization options …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you full control over your chart or graph, 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 look of your chart or graph, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
Your graph or chart will now be added to your ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this lets you add graphs and charts to your posts easily …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by their type …
After adding a new element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or trash it …
Plugin Usage
After creating a new graph or chart and adding it to Visualizer, adding it to pages and posts 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 the content and click on the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the element to be added to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This adds a shortcode for the element into your content …
Once you have added your visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …
After your page/post has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
Your page or post displays your element in the location you specified …
As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive graphs for mobile browsers …
As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This is very convenient if you’re adding dynamic chart data in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a series of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the plugin.
For additional tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add eye-catching and mobile-responsive charts and graphs to WordPress.
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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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