Help:Columns
 | This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. | <templatestyles src="Shortcut/styles.css"></templatestyles> |
colbegin and colend
To create columns in an article one may use {{colbegin}} and {{colend}}. Note that this is not supported by Internet Explorer version 9 and below or Opera version 11 and below — see {{Div col}} for details. This example uses {{lorem}} to generate placeholder text.
{{colbegin}}
{{lorem}}
{{lorem}}
{{colend}}
produces:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
You can also use {{col-begin}}, {{col-break}}, and {{col-end}}. But don't use this variety to set lists in columns, because {{col-break}} breaks the list up, which is a problem for accessibility.
As such:
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{{lorem}}
{{col-break}}
{{lorem}}
{{col-break}}
{{lorem}}
{{col-end}}
creates
|
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |
CSS
MediaWiki:Common.css defines the following styles:
- "div.columns-2", "div.columns-3", "div.columns-4" and "div.columns-5" which need to contain a "div.column"
Templates
- {{colbegin}} and {{divbegin}} – utilizes CSS3 features
- {{Columns-start}} – defines CSS classes (see above)
- {{Multicol}} – uses deprecated HTML element "MULTICOL"
- {{col-begin}} – uses an HTML table (also adds a MULTICOL attribute)
- {{col-begin-small}}
- {{div col}} – uses CSS3
- {{columns-list}} – uses CSS3
CSS3 multicolumn support
| Property | Internet Explorer |
Firefox | Safari | Chrome | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| column-width column-count |
≥ 10 (2012) |
≥ 1.5 (2005) |
≥ 3 (2007) |
≥ 1 (2008) |
≥ 11.1 (2011) |
| columns | ≥ 10 (2012) |
≥ 9 (2011) |
≥ 3 (2007) |
≥ 1 (2008) |
≥ 11.1 (2011) |
| break-before break-after break-inside |
≥ 10 (2012) |
No | No | No | ≥ 11.1 (2011) |
The templates {{div col}} and {{divbegin}} use a feature in CSS3 that is implemented in:
- Gecko-based browsers, such as Firefox 1.5
- Presto-based browsers, such as Opera 11.1
- WebKit-based browsers, such as Safari (web browser) 3 and Google Chrome 1
- Trident-based browsers, such as Internet Explorer 10