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.

Syntax

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).

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial

Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.

inherit

Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.

unset

This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

Basic Property Information

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

CSS Specifications

• The column-width property is defined in CSS Multi-column Layout Module Level 1 (W3C Working Draft).

Browser Support

Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.

The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.

Initial Value

CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.

Inheritance

Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.

Vendor Prefixes

Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.