WordCloud in Plotly (Interactive!)

Last Updated: 08 Nov 2025

WordCloud shows word frequency with size — perfect for text analysis, reviews, tweets, surveys, or NLP insights.

Plotly has no built-in WordCloud, but we hack it with wordcloud + px.imshow() → zoom, hover, save, embed — fully interactive!

Hinglish Tip:
WordCloud = "jis word ka size bada, woh zyada important" — jaise news headline!

Install Once

pip install wordcloud plotly

Basic WordCloud (Interactive)

import plotly.express as px
from wordcloud import WordCloud
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample text
text = """
Python JavaScript Java C++ HTML CSS React Node Express Django Flask
Pandas NumPy Matplotlib Seaborn Plotly Dash Streamlit FastAPI
Machine Learning AI Deep Learning NLP Computer Vision Data Science
"""

# Generate WordCloud
wc = WordCloud(
    width=1000,
    height=600,
    background_color='white',
    colormap='plasma',
    min_font_size=10
).generate(text)

# Convert to image array
img = wc.to_array()

# Show in Plotly (Interactive!)
fig = px.imshow(img)
fig.update_layout(
    title="Programming Languages WordCloud",
    coloraxis_showscale=False,
    margin=dict(l=0, r=0, t=40, b=0)
)
fig.show()

Interactive: Zoom in, pan, hover (pixel values), save as PNG/HTML!

Key Parameters in `WordCloud()`

Parameter	Values	Purpose
`width`, `height`	`1000`, `600`	Image size
`background_color`	`'black'`, `'#0e1117'`	Background
`colormap`	`'viridis'`, `'inferno'`, `'rainbow'`	Color scheme
`min_font_size`	`10`	Smallest word size
`max_words`	`100`	Limit words
`mask`	`np.array(Image.open('mask.png'))`	Shape (heart, India, etc.)
`contour_width`, `contour_color`	`3`, `'steelblue'`	Border around shape

Full Example: Movie Reviews (With Mask & Dark Mode)

import plotly.express as px
from wordcloud import WordCloud
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image

# Sample movie review text
text = """
amazing brilliant outstanding masterpiece epic emotional powerful
touching heartwarming funny hilarious entertaining blockbuster
cinema art director actor performance script music soundtrack
visual effects cinematography storytelling plot twist climax
"""

# Optional: Heart-shaped mask
mask = np.array(Image.open("heart.png"))  # Download a heart mask PNG

wc = WordCloud(
    width=1200, height=800,
    background_color='#0e1117',  # Dark mode
    colormap='magma',
    mask=mask,
    contour_width=3,
    contour_color='orange',
    max_words=80,
    min_font_size=12
).generate(text)

fig = px.imshow(wc.to_array())
fig.update_layout(
    title="Movie Reviews WordCloud (Heart Shape + Dark Mode)",
    coloraxis_showscale=False,
    margin=dict(t=50)
)
fig.show()

Hinglish Tip: mask=heart.png → dil ke shape mein words — perfect for Valentine's or feedback!

From Real Data (Pandas + Frequency)

import pandas as pd

# Sample feedback data
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'review': ['great product fast delivery', 'poor quality bad service',
               'amazing value for money', 'highly recommend excellent']
})

# Count word frequency
from collections import Counter
all_text = ' '.join(df['review'])
word_freq = Counter(all_text.split())

# Generate from dictionary
wc = WordCloud(width=1000, height=500, background_color='white').generate_from_frequencies(word_freq)

fig = px.imshow(wc.to_array())
fig.update_layout(title="Customer Feedback WordCloud")
fig.show()

Save Interactive WordCloud

# Interactive HTML (zoom + pan!)
fig.write_html("wordcloud_interactive.html")

# High-quality PNG
fig.write_image("wordcloud.png", engine="kaleido", width=1200, height=800, scale=3)

Hinglish Tip:

scale=3 → super sharp for reports, slides, websites!

Install: pip install -U kaleido

Bonus: Live WordCloud in Dash (Dropdown)

from dash import Dash, dcc, html, Input, Output
import plotly.express as px
from wordcloud import WordCloud

app = Dash(__name__)

app.layout = html.Div([
    html.H1("Live WordCloud Generator"),
    dcc.Dropdown(
        id='topic',
        options=['Python', 'Cricket', 'Food', 'Travel'],
        value='Python'
    ),
    dcc.Graph(id='wc-graph')
])

@app.callback(
    Output('wc-graph', 'figure'),
    Input('topic', 'value')
)
def update_wordcloud(topic):
    texts = {
        'Python': "Python Dash Plotly Pandas NumPy AI ML FastAPI Streamlit Code Data",
        'Cricket': "IPL Rohit Virat Dhoni Kohli Bumrah Six Wicket Stadium Century Match",
        'Food': "Pizza Burger Pasta Noodles Biryani Curry Dessert Chocolate Sweet Spicy",
        'Travel': "Beach Mountain Adventure RoadTrip Flight Hotel Explore Journey Nature"
    }
    wc = WordCloud(width=1000, height=600, background_color='white', colormap='viridis').generate(texts[topic])
    fig = px.imshow(wc.to_array())
    fig.update_layout(title=f"WordCloud: {topic}", coloraxis_showscale=False, margin=dict(t=50))
    return fig

app.run(debug=True)

Hinglish Tip: Dropdown change → live update — students ko magic lagega!

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake	Fix
Words overlap	Use `max_words=100` + larger `width/height`
Mask not working	Mask must be white background, black shape (PIL)
Colors not visible	Use `colormap='plasma'` or `'inferno'`
Can't save image	Install `kaleido`
Too small in report	Use `scale=3` in `write_image`

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