How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’re probably familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you’re presenting and explaining complex data.
Using graphs and charts can help to make statistical data and information much simpler to understand.
You can present data using tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex information with numbers, trends or relationships quickly, then charts and graphs let you present your data in a meaningful and intelligent manner that can be quickly processed.
Graphs and charts help present complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
If you want to learn how to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like graphs and charts, this tutorial will show you how to create and add colourful and updateable charts to your WP posts and pages that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload graph or chart data from your computer or an online data source
- Will resize dynamically for mobile browsing
If you plan to display visual data like bar charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), an easier way to present the information is to create your charts or graphs using an image editing application, convert these into images and then simply insert the files and an image into your pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to create interactive 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 free plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create attractive and dynamic graphs and charts, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updatable data.
Visualizer
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (we show you how to do this further down the page), or access and download WordPress Visualizer from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Plugin Description
The WordPress Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and embed dynamic graphs into your WordPress posts and pages with just a few mouse clicks.
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 extra add-ons are required.
Visualizer also contains a variety of built-in optimized for 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 the look and feel of your website. Several 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 visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile devices without requiring the installation of any additional plugins.
How To Install The Visualizer Plugin
From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results area and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to go ahead …
Activate the plugin after installation is successful …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins section …
Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in your dashboard menu …
This brings up the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings page …
When you first install the plugin, the library section will be empty.
Your next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you plan to display in your pages and posts.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a new chart or graph to the library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …
A page will appear in your screen with all the different kinds of charts and graphs available.
Select the chart or graph 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 the data you would like your chart or graph to be populated with …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- Your first row includes your column headings.
- Your second row includes the series type (e.g. string, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply download the sample file provided with the plugin.
Once you have completed this step, 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 hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports your data from the CSV file and displays it using the graph/chart type chosen …
Upload CSV File From The Web
To learn 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 data file with 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 and settings …
Visualizer 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, 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 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’re happy with the way your graph or chart is looking, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
Your new chart or graph will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that every element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see very soon, this allows you to embed graphs and charts into your WordPress content quickly and easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After adding a new element to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or delete it …
Plugin Usage
Once you have created a element and added it to the Visualizer Library, adding it to a post is really very 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 Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the chart or graph to be inserted into your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This will add a shortcode for the element into your content …
After you have finished adding the visual element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
After the page/post has been published, click ‘View post’ to see it …
The graph will show up in the location where you have added the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive graphs and charts for mobile browsers …
As you can see, Visualizer 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 website. This is a real time-saving feature of the plugin if you’re adding interactive chart information in WordPress.
The plugin developers have created a number of tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use Visualizer.
For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, refer to the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create stunning and interactive charts and graphs in WordPress.
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