How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
You’re probably familiar with the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present and explain complex information.
Using charts and graphs is useful for breaking up technical or difficult text, and making technical data simpler to understand.
You can present data with tables, but if you want people to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, trends and comparisons quickly, then graphs and charts allow you to present the information in an intelligent and meaningful manner that can be quickly and easily processed.
Charts and graphs help you explain complex data so your audience can more easily interpret it!
Need to add charts or graphs to WordPress? This tutorial shows you how to use the WordPress Visualizer plugin – a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and embed eye-catching graphs into your WordPress posts and pages in just a few mouse clicks that:
- Your visitors can engage with
- Lets you add data from your computer or an online data source
- Is responsive for mobile viewers
If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison bars or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use to present this information is to create the graphs or charts using an image editing application, convert these into jpg and png files and then simply insert the images into your post or page.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to easily embed 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 sites that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create stunning and dynamic charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with dynamic data.
Visualizer
Visualizer URL
You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard (explained further below), or access and download the WordPress Visualizer plugin here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Visualizer Description
The Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert beautiful and interactive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in a few simple steps.
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 add-ons are needed.
WordPress Visualizer also comes with a variety of charts that are optimized to address 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 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 site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without having to install extra software.
How To Install The Plugin
Inside your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the main admin menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the item in the search results section and click the “Install Now” button …
Click OK to go ahead …
Activate the plugin …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by selecting 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 will contain no charts.
Your next step is to add add charts and graphs to your library.
Visualizer Configuration
To add a new chart or graph to the plugin’s library, click on the Add New button …
A page will load on your screen displaying all the types of charts and graphs available.
Select the type of chart or graph you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The graph/chart type will open up in a lightbox.
The next step is to upload a CSV file that contains the data you would like to populate your chart or graph with …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- The first row includes your column headings.
- The second row includes the series type (e.g. string, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data as required …
If you are not sure how to format your CSV file, simply study the sample spreadsheet 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 your CSV file and data from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your file and then click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin will now import your data from the CSV file and display it using the graph/chart type you have previously 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, check 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 selected, the plugin will display a number of customization settings …
Visualizer gives you full control over 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’re happy with the look of your graph or chart, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The chart or graph will be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that each visual element is given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see in just a moment, this lets you insert charts and graphs into your WordPress content very easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can easily be accessed by their type …
After a chart or graph has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit its details, duplicate it, or delete it …
Plugin Usage
After creating a graph or chart and adding it to the Library, adding it to pages and posts is quite 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 graph or chart you want to insert into your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode into your content …
Once you have finished adding the element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
Once the page has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the result …
Your page or post will display the chart or graph in the location where you’ve inserted the shortcode …
As mentioned earlier, Visualizer also displays responsive elements for viewing on mobile devices …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can modify your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This is great if you’re working with interactive chart information in WordPress.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of step-by-step tutorials you can refer to for ways to edit, customize and use Visualizer.
For additional tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, visit the website below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add appealing and interactive bar charts and graphs to your WordPress pages and posts.
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