this simple bar chart doesn't require any image manipulation software on the server.
it's done only in html and uses percentages in tables to show the chart.

“simple bar chart” makes use of the built-in PHP functions count( ).

01 <?php
02 
03 // total width
04 $total_width = 600;
05  
06 // base color
07 $base_color = 'silver';
08  
09 // add an array per field to show
10 $graphs = array(
11 array('label'=>'whatever', 'color'=>'red', 'amount'=>'30'),
12 array('label'=>'more here', 'color'=>'green', 'amount'=>'36'),
13 array('label'=>'just an example', 'color'=>'blue', 'amount'=>'82'),
14 array('label'=>'even more', 'color'=>'orange', 'amount'=>'4'),
15 );
16  
17 for($x = 0; $x < count($graphs); $x++)
18 {
19     echo '
20 <table width="'.$total_width.'">
21     <tr>
22         <td colspan="2">
23             '.$graphs[$x]['label'].'
24         </td>
25     </tr>
26     <tr>
27         <td width="'.$graphs[$x]['amount'].'%" bgcolor="'.$graphs[$x]['color'].'">
28             '.$graphs[$x]['amount'].'%
29         </td>
30         <td width="'.(100-$graphs[$x]['amount']).'%" bgcolor="'.$base_color.'">
31             &nbsp;
32         </td>
33     </tr>
34 </table>';
35 }
36  
37 ?>