How To Add Charts And Graphs To WordPress
No doubt you’re familiar with the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you’re presenting and explaining complex information.
Using graphs and charts can help to make statistical data and information a lot easier to digest.
You can present data using tables, but if you want your audience to try and make sense of complex data with numbers, trends and comparisons quickly, then charts and graphs are perfect for helping them visualize your data.
Charts and graphs 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 attractive and updatable graphs and charts to your posts and pages that:
- Your visitors can interact with
- Allows you to add chart or graph data from your hard drive or a web-based data source
- Will dynamically resize for mobile viewers
If you are displaying visual data like bar charts, comparison data or trending graphs containing information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), an easier way to add the data is to create the charts or graphs using a desktop application, convert these into jpg and png files and then simply add the image files to your pages.
Use WordPress Chart & Graph Plugins
If you want to add interactive bar charts and pie charts to WordPress with no coding skills required, the easiest way to do this is to use a plugin.
Fortunately, there is a great plugin for WordPress that is simple to install, easy-to-use and allows you to not only create stunning and interactive charts and graphs, it also lets you populate your charts and graphs with updateable information.
Visualizer – WP Plugin
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin inside your WP dashboard (explained a little further below), or download WordPress Visualizer the WP plugin repository using the link below:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
The Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert mobile-responsive 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 additional plugins are required.
WordPress Visualizer also comes with a variety of built-in 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 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. 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 visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile browsers without requiring the installation of any additional plugins.
How To Install WP Visualizer
Inside your WP dashboard, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins page type in search for “visualizer” and click enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results section 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 page …
After the plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can also 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 contains no charts.
The next step is to add add charts and graphs to your plugin library.
How To Configure The Visualizer Plugin
To add a new graph or chart to the library, click on ‘Add New’ …
A visual gallery displaying all the kinds of graphs available will come up on your screen.
Select the type of graph or chart you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
Your selected graph/chart type will pop up in a new window.
The next step is to upload a CSV file with all the data you would like your chart or graph to be populated with …
When creating your CSV data file, make sure that:
- The first row includes the column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. number, timeofday, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data correctly …
If you are unsure about how to format your CSV file, simply refer to the sample CSV file provided with the plugin.
Once you have done this, 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 from your hard drive select ‘From Computer‘ …
Use the browser to locate and select your file and click on ‘Open‘ …
The plugin imports your data and displays it using the graph/chart type you have previously 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, 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 containing the correct data), and click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type selected, the plugin will display various customization settings and options …
Visualizer gives you total control of your information, 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’re satisfied with the way your graph or chart looks, click Create Chart …
The graph or chart will now be added to the ‘Visualizer Library’ section …
Note that new elements are given a unique ID displayed in a shortcode. As you will see shortly, this allows you to add charts and graphs to your pages and posts quickly and easily …
Graphs and charts added to the Visualizer Library can be accessed by type …
After an item has been added to the ‘Visualizer Library’, you can edit it, clone it, or delete it …
Visualizer Plugin Usage
After you have created a new element and added it to the Library, it’s simple to add it to a post or 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 your content and click on Add Media …
Click on ‘Visualizations‘ …
Find 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 item, click on Publish to publish (or update) your post or page …
After your page has been published, click ‘View post’ to see the results …
You will see your chart or graph in the location you specified …
As mentioned previously, the plugin also displays responsive elements for mobile screens …
As you can see, Visualizer allows you to insert and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can update your data and your changes will automatically be reflected throughout your site. This makes adding dynamic graph information in WordPress really efficient.
The developers of this plugin have created a series of tutorials you can refer to to learn how to edit, customize and use WordPress Visualizer.
For additional tutorials on editing, copying, deleting and adding data to your charts, refer to the site below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to create attractive and mobile-responsive pie charts and graphs in WordPress with WP Visualizer.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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