Let's explore how to use multiple-column layout — often referred to as _multicol_. You can follow along by [downloading the multicol starting point file](https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/css/css-layout/multicol/0-starting-point.html) and adding the CSS into the appropriate places. At the bottom of the section you can see an example of what the final code should look like.

### A three-column layout

Our starting point file contains some very simple HTML: a wrapper with a class of `container`, inside of which is a heading and some paragraphs.

The {{htmlelement("div")}} with a class of container will become our multicol container. We enable multicol by using one of two properties: {{cssxref("column-count")}} or {{cssxref("column-width")}}. The `column-count` property takes a number as its value and creates that number of columns. If you add the following CSS to your stylesheet and reload the page, you'll get three columns:

```css

.container {

column-count: 3;

}

```

The columns that you create have flexible widths — the browser works out how much space to assign each column.

```css hidden

body {

width: 90%;

max-width: 900px;

margin: 2em auto;

font:

0.9em/1.2 Arial,

Helvetica,

sans-serif;

}

```

```html hidden

<div class="container">

<h1>Simple multicol example</h1>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at

ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer

ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur

vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus.

Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus

sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus.

Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis,

eget fermentum sapien.

</p>

<p>

Nam vulputate diam nec tempor bibendum. Donec luctus augue eget malesuada

ultrices. Phasellus turpis est, posuere sit amet dapibus ut, facilisis sed

est. Nam id risus quis ante semper consectetur eget aliquam lorem. Vivamus

tristique elit dolor, sed pretium metus suscipit vel. Mauris ultricies

lectus sed lobortis finibus. Vivamus eu urna eget velit cursus viverra quis

vestibulum sem. Aliquam tincidunt eget purus in interdum. Cum sociis natoque

penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

</p>

</div>

```

{{ EmbedLiveSample('A_three-column_layout', '100%', 400) }}

### Setting column-width

Change your CSS to use `column-width` as follows:

```css

.container {

column-width: 200px;

}

```

The browser will now give you as many columns as it can of the size that you specify; any remaining space is then shared between the existing columns. This means that you won't get exactly the width that you specify unless your container is exactly divisible by that width.

```css hidden

body {

width: 90%;

max-width: 900px;

margin: 2em auto;

font:

0.9em/1.2 Arial,

Helvetica,

sans-serif;

}

```

```html hidden

<div class="container">

<h1>Simple multicol example</h1>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at

ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer

ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur

vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus.

Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus

sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus.

Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis,

eget fermentum sapien.

</p>

<p>

Nam vulputate diam nec tempor bibendum. Donec luctus augue eget malesuada

ultrices. Phasellus turpis est, posuere sit amet dapibus ut, facilisis sed

est. Nam id risus quis ante semper consectetur eget aliquam lorem. Vivamus

tristique elit dolor, sed pretium metus suscipit vel. Mauris ultricies

lectus sed lobortis finibus. Vivamus eu urna eget velit cursus viverra quis

vestibulum sem. Aliquam tincidunt eget purus in interdum. Cum sociis natoque

penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

</p>

</div>

```

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Setting_column-width', '100%', 400) }}

The columns created by multicol cannot be styled individually. There's no way to make one column bigger than other columns or to change the background or text color of a single column. You have two opportunities to change the way that columns display:

- Changing the size of the gap between columns using the {{cssxref("column-gap")}}.

- Adding a rule between columns with {{cssxref("column-rule")}}.

Using your example above, change the size of the gap by adding a `column-gap` property. You can play around with different values — the property accepts any length unit.

Now add a rule between the columns with `column-rule`. In a similar way to the {{cssxref("border")}} property that you encountered in previous lessons, `column-rule` is a shorthand for {{cssxref("column-rule-color")}}, {{cssxref("column-rule-style")}}, and {{cssxref("column-rule-width")}}, and accepts the same values as `border`.

```css

.container {

column-count: 3;

column-gap: 20px;

column-rule: 4px dotted rgb(79 185 227);

}

```

Try adding rules of different styles and colors.

```css hidden

body {

width: 90%;

max-width: 900px;

margin: 2em auto;

font:

0.9em/1.2 Arial,

Helvetica,

sans-serif;

}

```

```html hidden

<div class="container">

<h1>Simple multicol example</h1>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at

ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer

ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula. Curabitur

vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus.

Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus

sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus.

Proin blandit quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis,

eget fermentum sapien.

</p>

<p>

Nam vulputate diam nec tempor bibendum. Donec luctus augue eget malesuada

ultrices. Phasellus turpis est, posuere sit amet dapibus ut, facilisis sed

est. Nam id risus quis ante semper consectetur eget aliquam lorem. Vivamus

tristique elit dolor, sed pretium metus suscipit vel. Mauris ultricies

lectus sed lobortis finibus. Vivamus eu urna eget velit cursus viverra quis

vestibulum sem. Aliquam tincidunt eget purus in interdum. Cum sociis natoque

penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

</p>

</div>

```

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Styling_the_columns', '100%', 400) }}

Something to take note of is that the rule doesn't take up any width of its own. It lies across the gap you created with `column-gap`. To make more space on either side of the rule, you'll need to increase the `column-gap` size.

You can cause an element to span across all the columns. In this case, the content breaks where the spanning element's introduced and then continues below the element, creating a new set of columns. To cause an element to span all the columns, specify the value of `all` for the {{cssxref("column-span")}} property.

> **Note:** It isn't possible to cause an element to span just _some_ columns. The property can only have the values of `none` (which is the default) or `all`.

```css hidden

body {

width: 90%;

max-width: 900px;

margin: 2em auto;

font:

0.9em/1.2 Arial,

Helvetica,

sans-serif;

}

.container {

column-count: 3;

column-gap: 20px;

column-rule: 4px dotted rgb(79 185 227);

}

h2 {

column-span: all;

background-color: rgb(79 185 227);

color: white;

padding: 0.5em;

}

```

```html hidden

<div class="container">

<h1>Simple multicol example</h1>

<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate.

Duis felis orci, pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc, at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta. Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

<h2>Spanning subhead</h2>

Curabitur vehicula tellus neque, ac ornare ex malesuada et. In vitae convallis lacus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse

ac imperdiet turpis. Aenean finibus sollicitudin eros pharetra congue. Duis ornare egestas augue ut luctus. Proin blandit

quam nec lacus varius commodo et a urna. Ut id ornare felis, eget fermentum sapien.</p>

<p>Nam vulputate diam nec tempor bibendum. Donec luctus augue eget malesuada ultrices. Phasellus turpis est, posuere sit amet dapibus ut, facilisis sed est. Nam id risus quis ante semper consectetur eget aliquam lorem. Vivamus tristique

elit dolor, sed pretium metus suscipit vel. Mauris ultricies lectus sed lobortis finibus. Vivamus eu urna eget velit

cursus viverra quis vestibulum sem. Aliquam tincidunt eget purus in interdum. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis

dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.</p>

</div>

```

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Spanning_columns', '100%', 550) }}

The content of a multi-column layout is fragmented. It essentially behaves the same way as content behaves in paged media, such as when you print a webpage. When you turn your content into a multicol container, it fragments into columns. In order for the content to do this, it must _break_.

### Fragmented boxes

Sometimes, this breaking will happen in places that lead to a poor reading experience. In the example below, I have used multicol to lay out a series of boxes, each of which has a heading and some text inside. The heading becomes separated from the text if the columns fragment between the two.

```css hidden

body {

width: 90%;

max-width: 900px;

margin: 2em auto;

font:

0.9em/1.2 Arial,

Helvetica,

sans-serif;

}

```

```html

<div class="container">

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

</div>

```

```css

.container {

column-width: 250px;

column-gap: 20px;

}

.card {

background-color: rgb(207 232 220);

border: 2px solid rgb(79 185 227);

padding: 10px;

margin: 0 0 1em 0;

}

```

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Fragmented_boxes', '100%', 1000) }}

### Setting break-inside

To control this behavior, we can use properties from the [CSS Fragmentation](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_fragmentation) specification. This specification gives us properties to control the breaking of content in multicol and in paged media. For example, by adding the property {{cssxref("break-inside")}} with a value of `avoid` to the rules for `.card`. This is the container of the heading and text, so we don't want it fragmented.

```css

.card {

break-inside: avoid;

background-color: rgb(207 232 220);

border: 2px solid rgb(79 185 227);

padding: 10px;

margin: 0 0 1em 0;

}

```

The addition of this property causes the boxes to stay in one piece—they now do not _fragment_ across the columns.

```css hidden

body {

width: 90%;

max-width: 900px;

margin: 2em auto;

font:

0.9em/1.2 Arial,

Helvetica,

sans-serif;

}

```

```html hidden

<div class="container">

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

<div class="card">

<h2>I am the heading</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla luctus

aliquam dolor, eu lacinia lorem placerat vulputate. Duis felis orci,

pulvinar id metus ut, rutrum luctus orci. Cras porttitor imperdiet nunc,

at ultricies tellus laoreet sit amet. Sed auctor cursus massa at porta.

Integer ligula ipsum, tristique sit amet orci vel, viverra egestas ligula.

</p>

</div>

</div>

```

```css hidden

.container {

column-width: 250px;

column-gap: 20px;

}

```

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Setting_break-inside', '100%', 1100) }}

You've reached the end of this article, but can you remember the most important information? You can find some further tests to verify that you've retained this information before you move on — see [Test your skills: Multicol](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Multicol_skills).

You now know how to use the basic features of multiple-column layout, another tool at your disposal when choosing a layout method for the designs you're building.

- [CSS Fragmentation](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_fragmentation)

- [Using multi-column layouts](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_multicol_layout/Using_multicol_layouts)

{{PreviousMenuNext("Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Positioning", "Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design", "Learn/CSS/CSS_layout")}}