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’re trying to present and explain complex data.

Using graphs and charts is great for making statistical data and information easier to digest.

You can use tables to present information, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with figures, trends or comparisons quickly, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them understand your information.

Charts and graphs help explain complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!

If you need to learn how to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how to create eye-catching and interactive charts and graphs to your pages that:

• Your visitors can interact with
• Allows you to add data from your hard drive or a web-based data source
• Is fully responsive for mobile browsing

If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison bars or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg or .png files and then simply add your files and an image to your page or post.

Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins

If you want to easily add interactive bar charts and pie charts to your WordPress posts and pages with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.

Fortunately, there is a great WordPress plugin that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create colorful and dynamic charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic data.

Visualizer

Visualizer Plugin URL

You can install the plugin in your WordPress dashboard (we will explain how to do this further below), or download Visualizer from the link below:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer

Visualizer Description

Visualizer is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed interactive graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just 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 components are needed.

The plugin also provides a variety of charts 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 let you fully customize their look and feel.

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 extra software.

Plugin Installation

Inside your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the dashboard menu …

In the Add Plugins screen type search for “visualizer” and hit enter …

Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …

Click OK to go ahead …

Activate the plugin …

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 choosing Media > Visualizer Library from your dashboard menu …

This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings …

After installing the plugin, the library section will be empty.

The next step is to add add charts and graphs to your plugin library.

How To Configure The Plugin

To add a chart or graph to the Visualizer library, click on the Add New button …

A visual gallery displaying all of the kinds of graphs and charts available will come up on your screen.

Select the chart or graph type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …

The graph/chart type will open up in a new window.

The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains the data you want to populate your chart or graph with …

When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:

• Your first row includes your column headings.
• The 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 CSV file, just download the sample provided with the plugin.

Once you have created your CSV file, 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 will import your data and display it using the graph/chart type you have previously chosen …

Upload CSV File From The Web

For a tutorial that explains how to create, save and publish data to a Visualizer chart or graph using Google Spreadsheet, go here:

• How To Populate Data Using Google Spreadsheet

After importing the data, make sure that all of your 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 complete control of your chart or graph, and updates your display in real time …

For example, the pie chart offers many 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 Create Chart …

Your graph or chart will be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …

Note that each element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to add graphs and charts to your posts and pages easily …

Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by their type …

After adding a graph or chart 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 Library, adding it to posts and pages 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 your content and click on Add Media …

Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …

Select the graph or chart you want to add to your content and click on the “insert” icon …

This will add a shortcode for the element into your content …

After you have added your item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …

After publishing the post, click ‘View post’ to see the result …

Your chart or graph will display in the content …

As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs for viewing on mobile devices …

As you can see, the Visualizer plugin lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and the changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This makes managing dynamic chart information in WordPress very efficient.

The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin.

For tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:

• WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials

Congratulations! Now you know how to add stunning and mobile-responsive charts and graphs to WordPress with WP Visualizer plugin.

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