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 presenting or explaining complex information.
Using graphs and charts is a great way to break up content that has too much text, and make statistical data simpler to understand.
You can present information using tables, but if you want your audience to try and interpret complex information with numbers, percentages or relationships quickly, then charts and graphs let you present your data in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be quickly processed.
Graphs and charts help you present complex data so people can more easily understand it!
If you want to learn how to present information visually and dynamically on your WordPress site using charts and graphs, this tutorial will show you exactly how to create eye-catching and updatable charts and graphs to your WordPress posts that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Lets you upload chart or graph data from your hard drive or an online data source
- Is dynamically responsive for mobile browsing
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs that contain static information (e.g. historical data), an easier option is to create the charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply add the images to your pages or posts.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to insert dynamic bars and pie graphs into 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 users that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create colorful and interactive charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic content.
Visualizer – WordPress Plugin
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (we show you how to do this a little further below), or access and 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 charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in 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 additional plugins are required.
The plugin also comes with 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 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 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 web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without requiring the installation of extra software.
How To Install Visualizer
From your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the item 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 …
Once the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library from the admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library settings …
After installing the plugin, the library section will be empty.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to the library.
How To Configure The Plugin
To add a new chart or graph to the plugin’s library, click on the ‘Add New’ button …
A visual gallery displaying all the different kinds of charts available will load on your screen.
Select the type of chart or graph 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 with your data …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- The first row contains the column headings.
- Your second row includes the series type (e.g. number, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as explained above …
If you are unsure about how to format your data CSV, simply use the sample spreadsheet that comes 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 click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will import your data and display it using the graph/chart type 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, make sure that all of the information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a data file containing the correct data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you have selected, the plugin will display various customization settings …
The plugin gives you total 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 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 are satisfied with the way your graph or chart appears, click Create Chart …
Your new chart or graph will be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in a moment, this lets you insert graphs and charts into your WordPress pages quickly …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After adding a graph or chart to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
After creating a chart or graph and adding it to the Visualizer Library, it’s very easy to add it to pages or posts.
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‘ …
Select the chart or graph to be inserted into your content and click the “insert” icon …
This adds a shortcode for the element into your content …
After you have added your element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
Once the post/page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
Your post or page will display your graph or chart in your content …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive charts and graphs for mobile browsing …
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 throughout your website. This makes working with dynamic graph data in WordPress very efficient.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to to learn how to edit, customize and use Visualizer.
For tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add eye-catching and dynamic bar charts and graphs to WordPress with WP Visualizer plugin.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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