You’ve heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This certainly applies when you are trying to present and explain complex data.
Using graphs and charts is a great way to break up content that has too much text, and make technical data simpler and easier to understand.
You can present data with tables, but if you want people to try and interpret complex data with figures, trends and relationships quickly, then graphs and charts are perfect for helping them visualize the information.
Graphs and charts help explain complex information so people can more easily understand it!
If you want to learn how to present dynamic visual content on your WordPress site like charts and graphs, this step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how to create colourful and updatable charts to your pages that:
- Your web visitors can engage with
- Lets you add data from your computer or a web-based source of data
- Is fully responsive for mobile devices
If you plan to display visual data like pie charts, comparison data or trending graphs which contain information that is not going to change (e.g. historical data), a simple method you can use is to create the graphs or charts using a desktop application, convert these into .jpg or .png images and then simply insert your images into your post or page.
If you want to easily insert dynamic bar charts and pie charts into WordPress, however, (especially if you would like to do this with no code editing skills required, then a simple way to do this is by using 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 colorful and dynamic graphs and charts, but also populate your charts and graphs with updatable data.
Visualizer Plugin For WordPress
Visualizer Plugin URL
You can install the plugin in your WP dashboard (see a little further below), or download WP Visualizer here:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer
Plugin Description
The WordPress Visualizer plugin is a simple, easy to use and powerful tool that lets you create, manage and insert eye-catching and interactive graphs and charts into your WordPress posts and pages in a few mouse clicks.
WordPress 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 plugins or add-ons are required.
Visualizer also provides a variety of built-in 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 a flexible and customizable plugin, allowing you to use Google Chart Tools with their default setting, or configure an extensive set of options to match your site’s design. Several options are available for each chart that let you 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 blog or site visitors can see your charts and graphs on their mobile web browsers without requiring the installation of extra plugins.
Plugin Installation
Inside your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New from the navigation sidebar menu …
In the Add Plugins screen type in search for “visualizer” and hit enter …
Locate the entry in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Click OK to proceed …
Activate the plugin after installation is successful …
You can also activate the plugin in the Plugins area …
Once your plugin has been activated, click on Library …
You can get to the plugin’s ‘library’ screen by choosing Media > Visualizer Library in the dashboard menu …
This takes you to the plugin’s Visualizer Library options screen …
After installing the plugin, the library will contain no charts.
The next step is to add the charts and graphs to your library that you will want to display in your posts and pages.
Visualizer Plugin Configuration
To add a graph or chart to the plugin’s library, click on ‘Add New’ …
You will be presented with all of the built-in kinds of graphs and charts available.
Select the chart or graph type you would like to create and click on the ‘Next’ button …
The selected graph/chart type will pop up in a lightbox.
The next step is to upload a CSV file with all the data you want to populate your chart or graph with …
When creating your CSV data file, ensure that:
- Your first row contains the column headings.
- The second row contains the series type (e.g. boolean, datetime, etc.)
The screenshot below shows how to format your data …
If you are not sure how to format your data CSV, simply refer to 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 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 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:
How To Populate Data Using Google Spreadsheet
After importing your data, make sure that all of your information is correct (if not, click on the ‘Back’ button and reupload a new data file containing the right data), and then click ‘Next‘ …
Depending on the chart or graph type selected, the plugin displays various customization settings …
The plugin gives you total control over your chart or graph, and updates your display in real time …
For example, the pie chart offers many configurable options, including:
- 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 looks, click on the ‘Create Chart’ button …
The new graph or chart will 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 lets you embed graphs and charts into your 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 its details, clone it, or delete it …
Visualizer Usage
Once you have created a new graph or chart and added it to Visualizer, adding it to a post or page is really simple.
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‘ …
Find the chart or graph you want to insert into your content and click the “insert” icon …
This will place a shortcode into your content …
After you have finished adding your element, click on Publish to publish (or update) your content …
Once your page has been updated, click ‘View post’ to see the end result …
Your page or post displays your chart or graph in the content …
As mentioned previously, Visualizer also displays responsive charts for mobile viewing …
As you can see, WordPress Visualizer lets you add and customize dynamic charts and graphs in your content. You can edit your data and the changes will automatically be reflected throughout your website. This makes working with dynamic graph information in WordPress really easy.
The developers of this plugin have created a number of step-by-step tutorials you can use to learn how to edit, customize and use the plugin.
For tutorials on editing, cloning, deleting and adding data to your charts, go to the site below:
WordPress Visualizer – Additional Tutorials
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Congratulations! Now you know how to insert great-looking pie charts and graphs into WordPress.
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Disclaimer: This site is not associated with WordPress or any of the WordPress products written about on this site. We may derive a financial benefit from sales of products advertised, reviewed or linked to from this site. The product images used in this review have been sourced from the plugin’s own website.
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