CSS columns

The CSS columns property is a shorthand property for setting multiple "column" related properties in one place.

Specifically, columns property sets the column-width and column-count properties.

The CSS columns property is a time-efficient way of coding your multi-column layouts.

Note that order is important. You must specify the values in the same order as listed in the Syntax section below.

Syntax

Possible Values

<'column-width'>: Defines the width that each column should be. Value can be either auto or a fixed length (e.g. 120px). For more information on this value, see the column-width property.
<'column-count'>: Defines the number of columns in the multi-column element. For more information on this value, see the column-count property.

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

Initial Value: See individual properties
Applies To: Block containers (except table wrapper boxes), flex containers, and grid containers
Inherited?: No
Media: Visual
Animatable: Yes (see example)

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

View Output Full Screen Preview

This example uses vendor prefixes for the multi-column layout due to lack of browser support for the official standard at the time of writing.

CSS Specifications

The columns 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.