How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve no doubt heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re presenting and explaining complex information.
Charts and graphs can help to break up technical and boring information, and make statistical data more easily digestible.
You can use tables to present data, but if you want your audience to try and interpret complex data with numbers, percentages and comparisons more easily, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them visualize the data.
Graphs and charts help you explain complex data so people can more easily interpret it!
If you need to learn how to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site using graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you how to create and add appealing and interactive charts to your posts and pages that:
- Your site visitors can interact with
- Allows you to add graph or chart data from your computer or an online source of data
- Dynamically resizes for mobile screens
If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison bars 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 the images to your posts or pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add interactive bar charts and graphs to your WordPress content with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a free plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create beautiful and mobile-responsive graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable information.
Visualizer Plugin For WordPress
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 WordPress Visualizer the WP plugin directory using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
WordPress Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful plugin for WordPress that lets you create, manage and insert appealing and dynamic charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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 add-ons are required.
WordPress Visualizer also comes with 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 web design. Various options are available for each chart that allow you to further 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 having to install any extra plugins.
How To Install The Plugin
Inside your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
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 selecting Media > Visualizer Library from the dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library screen …
After installing the plugin, the library will contain no charts.
The 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 new chart or graph to the library, click on Add New …
A page will load in your screen displaying all of the kinds of charts and graphs available.
Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your 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:
- The first row includes 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 per the above requirements …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply use the sample spreadsheet provided 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 the CSV file from your computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will now import the data from the CSV file and display 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, 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 containing the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type selected, the plugin displays various customization settings …
Visualizer gives you complete control of your chart or graph, 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 are satisfied with the look of your graph or chart, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
Your chart or graph will now be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that every element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you insert charts and graphs into your pages and posts very 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 graph or chart and adding it to the Library, adding it to a page or post is 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 your content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the chart or graph you want to add to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This inserts a shortcode into your content …
Once you have added your shortcode, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After publishing your post, click ‘View post’ to see it …
Your chart or graph will show up in the location you specified …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive charts and graphs for mobile device viewers …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is great if you’re working with dynamic graph data in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a number of tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use WordPress Visualizer.
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 insert stunning and interactive pie charts and graphs into WordPress with WP Visualizer plugin.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now
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