How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’re probably familiar with the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true when you are trying to present and explain data.
Graphs and charts can help to break up content with loads of text, and make statistical data more easily digestible.
You can present data using tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, trends and comparisons easily, then charts and graphs let you present the data in a meaningful and intelligent manner that can be quickly and easily understood.
Charts and graphs help explain complex information so people can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts or graphs to your WordPress content? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to use WP Visualizer – an easy-to-use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert mobile-responsive charts and graphs into your WordPress posts and pages that:
- Your web visitors can interact with
- Lets you upload graph or chart data from your computer or an online data source
- Is fully responsive for mobile browsers
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison graphs or trending graphs containing static information (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to display the data is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into images and then simply add the image files to your pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add interactive bar charts and graphs to 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 interactive charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic information.
Visualizer Plugin For WordPress
Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (explained a little further down the page), or download the Visualizer plugin from the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
WordPress Visualizer is an easy-to-use and powerful plugin that allows you to create, manage and insert appealing charts into your WordPress posts and pages with 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 addons are required.
Visualizer also contains a variety of charts 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 also 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. Several options are available for each chart that let you 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 web visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without having to install additional plugins.
How To Install The Visualizer Plugin
From your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type “visualizer” into the search field and click enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
After your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting Media > Visualizer Library from your dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library page …
When you first install the plugin, the library section will be empty.
The next step is to add add charts and graphs to the plugin library.
Plugin Configuration
To add a graph or chart to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
A visual gallery displaying all the different kinds of charts available will load on your screen.
Select the chart or graph type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The selected graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.
The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains your data …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- The first row contains your column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. number, date, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply download the sample 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 computer select ‘From Computer‘ …
Locate and select your file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will import your data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type selected …
Upload CSV File From The Web
For a step-by-step 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 your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file with the right data), and click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type you’ve picked, the plugin displays various customization options and settings …
The WordPress Visualizer plugin gives you full control of your information, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers many 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 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 chart or graph appears, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The new graph or chart will be added to your Visualizer ‘Library’ …
Note that every visual element is given a unique ID displayed as a shortcode. As you will see in a moment, this allows you to add charts and graphs to your WordPress pages and posts very easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by type …
After adding a new item to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or trash it …
Visualizer Usage
Once you have created a new graph or chart and added it to the Visualizer Library, it’s simple to insert it into a page.
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 the ‘Add Media‘ button …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Select the chart or graph you want to insert into your content and click on the “insert” icon …
This will add a shortcode for the element into your content …
Once you have finished adding the item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your page or post …
After your post has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the result …
You will see the chart or graph in the location where you have inserted the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive visual elements for mobile browsers …
As you can see, the Visualizer plugin allows you to add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and your changes will automatically be reflected wherever you have inserted your charts, graphs, comparison bars , etc. in your site. This is one of the great benefits of using the Visualizer plugin if you’re managing interactive graph 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, refer to the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily create appealing and interactive bar charts and graphs in WordPress with WordPress Visualizer plugin.
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com
***