How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’ve no doubt heard the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present and explain complex data.
Using charts and graphs can help to break up content that has too much text, and make data more easily digestible.
You can present information using tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, trends or relationships easily, then charts and graphs let you present data in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be quickly and easily understood.
Charts and graphs help you present complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts and graphs to your WordPress pages and posts? This tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – an easy-to-use and powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to create, manage and insert appealing graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages that:
- Your visitors can engage with
- Lets you add data from your hard drive or a web-based source of data
- Dynamically resizes for viewing on mobile devices
If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create your graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into jpg or png images and then simply add your files and an image to your content.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add dynamic bar charts and graphs to your WordPress pages with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a free WordPress plugin that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create appealing and interactive charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable content.
Visualizer
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard (we will show you how to do this further below), or download the Visualizer plugin here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
The Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and insert colorful and interactive charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just 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 extra plugins are needed.
WordPress Visualizer also provides a variety of built-in optimized for 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. Several 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 visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without requiring the installation of additional plugins.
How To Install The Plugin
From your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the item in the search results area and click Install Now …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin after installation is successful …
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 from your admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library screen …
When you first install the plugin, this 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 graph or chart to the Visualizer library, click on Add New …
You will see all of the default kinds of charts available.
Select the graph or chart type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The selected graph/chart type will open up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file containing your data …
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. number, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as per the requirements above …
If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, simply study the sample supplied 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 computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your data file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports the data and displays it using the graph/chart type 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, see the article below:
After importing your data, check that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file containing the right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin will display various customization settings and options …
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, 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 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 how your chart or graph looks, click Create Chart …
Your new chart or graph will now be added to your ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this lets you embed charts and graphs into your posts easily …
Charts and graphs added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After adding a new chart or graph to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or trash it …
Visualizer Plugin Usage
After creating a element and adding it to Visualizer, it’s easy to add it to your posts and pages.
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 Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find the element to be added to your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode into your content …
After you have finished adding the element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After publishing the post, click ‘View post’ to see the result …
You will see your visual element in the content …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive charts and graphs for mobile browsers …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer lets you insert 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 is very convenient if you’re adding dynamic chart data in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a number of step-by-step tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the Visualizer plugin for WordPress.
For tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add attractive and dynamic bar charts and graphs to your WordPress posts 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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