How to display a list in n columns format?


In this article, we will learn how to display a list in “n” column format in HTML and CSS with the help of columns, column-count, and grid CSS properties.

Displaying a list in columns can be a useful way to save space and make the information more visually appealing. We can achieve this by using different approaches that rely on columns, column-count, and grid properties respectively.

Let’s understand each approach in detail.

Approach 1

In this approach, we will use the column-count CSS property to determine the number of columns we will divide our content into. Let’s understand this with the help of an example

Example

Filename: index.html

<html lang="en">
<head>
   <title>How to display a list in n columns format?</title>
   <style>
      ul {
         column-count: 3;
      }
   </style>
</head>
<body>
   <h3>How to display a list in n columns format?</h3>
   <ul>
      <li>Item 1</li>
      <li>Item 2</li>
      <li>Item 3</li>
      <li>Item 4</li>
      <li>Item 5</li>
      <li>Item 6</li>
      <li>Item 7</li>
      <li>Item 8</li>
      <li>Item 9</li>
      <li>Item 10</li>
   </ul>
</body>
</html>

Approach 2

In this approach, the list items will be wrapped inside a container with the class list-container. By using CSS Flexbox properties, such as display: flex and flex-wrap: wrap, the list items will automatically flow into multiple columns based on the available space.

Example

Filename: index.html

<html lang="en">
<head>
   <title>How to display a list in n columns format?</title>
   <style>
      .list-container {
         display: flex;
         flex-wrap: wrap;
      }
      .list-item {
         flex-basis: 33.33%; /* Adjust this value for the desired number of columns */
      }
   </style>
</head>
<body>
   <h3>How to display a list in n columns format?</h3>
   <div class="list-container">
      <div class="list-item">Item 1</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 2</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 3</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 4</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 5</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 6</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 7</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 8</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 9</div>
      <div class="list-item">Item 10</div>
   </div>
</body>
</html>

Approach 3

In this approach, the list items will be wrapped inside a container with the class list-container. By utilizing CSS Grid properties, such as display: grid and grid-template-columns, the items will be displayed in multiple columns based on the specified number of columns.

Example

Filename: index.html

<html lang="en">
<head>
   <title>How to display a list in n columns format?</title>
   <style>
      .list-container {
         display: grid;
         grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); /* Adjust this value for the desired number of columns */
         grid-gap: 10px; /* Adjust the gap between items */
      }
   </style>
</head>
<body>
   <h3>How to display a list in n columns format?</h3>
   <div class="list-container">
      <div>Item 1</div>
      <div>Item 2</div>
      <div>Item 3</div>
      <div>Item 4</div>
      <div>Item 5</div>
      <div>Item 6</div>
      <div>Item 7</div>
      <div>Item 8</div>
      <div>Item 9</div>
      <div>Item 10</div>
   </div>
</body>
</html>

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to display a list in “n” column format with the help of 3 different approaches. In the first, second, and third approaches, we used the column-count, flexbox layout and grid CSS properties to divide the content into the desired number of columns.

Updated on: 02-Aug-2023

367 Views

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