CSS Multi-column Layout

Abstract

The CSS Multi-column Layout module provides a solution to one of the fundamental layout issues that has faced web designers since the very earliest days of the Web: how to arrange content so that it occupies multiple vertical containers, like a newspaper or magazine. Over the years, ingenious web designers have developed a variety of workarounds to create multi-column layouts. Initially this involved using tables to align columns of content as if each element was a value in a cell. More recently, clever combinations of floating elements, clearing elements, and occasional JavaScript have provided a more semantic solution, but none of these approaches is particularly well suited to creating multi-column layouts. The new CSS3 module overcomes many of the problems associated with generating such layouts, automatically handling the flow and distribution of content; and browser support is already quite good, so it’s relatively safe to start using this module today!