How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are presenting and explaining complex information.
Using charts and graphs is useful for making technical data easier to understand.
You can use tables to present information, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with numbers, percentages or comparisons more easily, then graphs and charts allow you to present the data in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be easily understood.
Charts and graphs help you present complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!
If you want to display information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create and add attractive and updatable graphs and charts to your WP pages that:
- Your visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload data from your computer or an online data source
- Is fully responsive for mobile device browsing
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply add your image to your page or post.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily insert interactive bar charts and pie charts into your WordPress pages and posts 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 appealing and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable information.
Visualizer
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin in your WordPress dashboard (see a little further down the page), or download Visualizer from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert dynamic graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in a few simple steps.
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 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
Visualizer is a flexible and customizable plugin, 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 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 devices without having to install any additional software.
How To Install The Visualizer Plugin
From your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in “visualizer” into the search field and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results section and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to continue …
Activate the plugin after successfully installing it …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins page …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in your main menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings page …
After installing the plugin, this section will be empty.
Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to publish to your posts and pages.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a new chart or graph to the library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …
A page will appear on your screen displaying all the types of graphs available.
Select the type of graph or chart you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The selected graph/chart type will pop up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file with all the data you would like to populate your chart or graph with …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- The first row contains the column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. boolean, datetime, 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 spreadsheet supplied 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 a CSV file and data 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 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 your 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’ve selected, the plugin will display a range of customization settings and options …
Visualizer gives you full 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 chart title settings, 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 look of your graph or chart, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The chart or graph will be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that new visual elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to easily embed graphs and charts into your content …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by their type …
After adding an element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or trash it …
Plugin Usage
After creating a graph or chart and adding it to the Library, adding it to a post or page is really very simple.
First, create a new post or page (or open an existing one) …
Next, place your mouse cursor where you want to insert your visual element into the content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the element to be added to your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode for the element into your content …
After you have added your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After updating the page, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …
Your page or post should display your graph or chart in the location where you have added the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, the plugin also displays responsive graphs for mobile screens …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can change your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is a real time-saver if you’re working with dynamic graph data in WordPress.
The developers of this plugin 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 create great-looking and dynamic charts and graphs in WordPress with WordPress Visualizer plugin.
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