10. Introducing the CSS3 Multi-Column Module by Cedric Savarese

The CSS3 multi-column module

The W3C multi-column module is a CSS level-three working draft, proposed by the W3C to extend the current CSS box model.The module’s intent is to allow content to flow into multiple columns inside an element. It offers new CSS properties that let the designers specify in how many columns an element should be rendered. The browser takes care of formatting the text so that the columns are balanced.

The proposed new CSS properties are:

• ‘column-count’, to determine the number of columns into which the content of the element will flow.
• ‘column-width’, to describe the optimal width of each column.
• ‘column-gap’, to set the padding between columns.
• ‘column-rule’, to define a border between columns.

You don’t need any knowledge of JavaScript to use it, just upload the file to your site and link it to your page:

You can then start using the CSS3 properties in your stylesheets as you would do for any other CSS. (View example.)