Quackit Logo
HTML
CSS
Scripting
Database
Hosting
Design
XML
CSS Home

CSS Tutorial

Introduction
CSS Advantages
CSS Syntax
Implementing CSS
CSS Class
CSS ID
CSS Font
CSS Text
CSS Background Code
CSS Border
CSS Margin
CSS Padding
CSS Lists
CSS Height & Width
CSS Positioning
CSS Float
CSS Layers
CSS Summary

CSS Codes

CSS Align
CSS bgcolor
CSS Cellpadding
CSS Cellspacing
CSS Floating Menu
CSS Hyperlinks
CSS Leading
Inline Style Sheets
Embedded Style Sheets
External Style Sheets
CSS Scrollbars
CSS Table Width
CSS Print Version
CSS Table-layout

CSS Examples

CSS Examples
CSS Table-layout Example

CSS Reference

CSS Mini Tutorial
CSS Properties
CSS Color Codes
CSS Template
CSS Media Types
IMCreator - Free Website Builder

CSS column-width

The CSS column-width property allows you to specify the width of the columns in your multi-column layouts. You can specify your column widths to be automatic (i.e. auto) or a specific length value.

You can also use the columns property to set the width and column count at once.

The examples on this page include browser-specific properties that start with extensions such as -webkit-, -moz-, etc. This is for browser compatibility reasons. See the bottom of this article for more on this.

Syntax: column-width: <length> | auto
Example 
column-width: 120px; /* W3C */
-webkit-column-width: 120px; /* Safari & Chrome */
-moz-column-width: 120px; /* Firefox */
-ms-column-width: 120px; /* Internet Explorer */
-o-column-width: 120px; /* Opera */
Note that this example includes various CSS extensions in addition to the W3C CSS3 property. This is for browser compatibility.
Try it yourself!


Possible Values:
<length>
Defines the width that each column should be. More precisely, it defines the optimal column width. The actual column width may be wider (to fill the available space), or narrower (only if the available space is smaller than the specified column width). Value can be either auto or a fixed length (e.g., 120px). Specified values must be greater than 0.
auto
Defines that the column width will be determined by other properties (e.g., column-count, if it has a non-auto value).
Initial Value: See individual properties
Applies to: non-replaced block-level elements (except table elements), table cells, and inline-block elements
Inherited: No
Media: Visual

Browser Compatibility

At the time of writing, CSS3 was still under development and browser support for many CSS3 properties was limited or non-existent. For maximum browser compatibility many web developers add browser-specific properties by using extensions such as -webkit- for Safari and Google Chrome, -ms- for Internet Explorer, -moz- for Firefox, -o- for Opera etc. As with any CSS property, if a browser doesn't support a proprietary extension, it will simply ignore it.

This practice is not recommended by the W3C, however in many cases, the only way you can test a property is to include the CSS extension that is compatible with your browser.

Be aware that if you choose to use the proprietary CSS extensions in a live environment, your code will not pass any W3C CSS validation, as the browser-specific properties are not valid W3C properties.

Many of the CSS3 examples on this website include these browser specific properties. If they weren't included, most of the examples wouldn't work for most users (at least, not until possibly years after the article was written).

The major browser manufacturers are working to support the W3C properties, and eventually, you will be able to omit these browser-specific properties.

Enjoy this page?

  2. Link to this page (copy/paste into your own website or blog):
  3. Link to Quackit using one of these banner ads.

Thanks for supporting Quackit!