6 Ways to Display WordPress Post Content in Multiple Columns

Most blogs display their post content in single columns, like what we do here at Digging Into WordPress. But you know it’s also possible to display post content in multiple columns. Multiple-column layouts are perfect for newspaper and magazine-style themes. This DigWP article presents six ways of getting the job done using a variety of techniques, tricks, and tips.

1. Using CSS3 and progressive enhancement
2. Multiple columns by filtering the_content
3. More flexible multiple columns
4. Multiple loops displayed in multiple columns
5. Display your posts in horizontal display order with two columns
6. Bonus: Display your category list in two columns

1. Using CSS3 and progressive enhancement

I think the easiest way to display your content in multiple columns is to apply a little CSS3 in progressively enhancing fashion. Let’s say you have the following markup:

<div class="content">
	<p>Lorem ipsum..</p>
	<p>Lorem ipsum..</p>
	<p>Lorem ipsum..</p>
</div>

We can add the following CSS to display the content in multiple columns:

.content {
	  -moz-column-count: 3;
	  -moz-column-gap: 10px;
	  -moz-column-rule: none;
	  -webkit-column-count: 3;
	  -webkit-column-gap: 10px;
	  -webkit-column-rule: none;
	column-count: 3;
	column-gap: 10px;
	column-rule: none;
	}

This will display your content in three columns with a 10px gap* between each. This technique is a great way to enhance the display of your content for people running cool modern browsers like Safari and Firefox. What about folks visiting with Internet Exploder or older browsers? They will see your content displayed in a single column, just like they would have before you applied the multiple columns. Progressive enhancement FTW.

2. Multiple columns by filtering the_content

If you need something a little more “universal” than what is currently available with CSS3, we can always dig into our template files, modify things at the PHP/(X)HTML level, and then style accordingly. Here is the technique provided by Kriesi.at:

function my_multi_col($content) {

	$columns = explode('<h2>', $content);
	$i = 0;

	foreach ($columns as $column) {
		if (($i % 2) == 0) {
			$return .= '<div class="content_left">'."\n";
			if ($i > 1) {
				$return .= "<h2>";
			} else {
				$return .= '<div class="content_right">'."\n <h2>";
			}
			$return .= $column;
			$return .= '</p></div>';
			$i++;
		}
		if(isset($columns[1])) {
	    		$content = wpautop($return);
		} else {
	    		$content = wpautop($content);
		}
		echo $content;
	}
}
add_filter('the_content', 'my_multi_col');

Just place that into your active theme’s functions.php file and then apply the following CSS:

.content_right, .content_left{
	float: left;
	width: 45%;
	}
.content_left{
	padding-right: 5%;
	}

Once implemented, this multi-column technique creates a a column for each instance of <h2> found within the post content. Thus, be sure to limit the number of <h2> elements to two in order to avoid layout breakage. Note that you could also modify the code to use a different element if the <h2> tag isn’t good for you. Multiple columns doesn’t get much easier, but just in case you need an alternate method for whatever reason, read on for some more great techniques.

3. More flexible multiple columns

The previous method works nice for two columns and no fuss, but for three or more columns we’re going to need something a little more robust. fortunately, Rob Searles shares a multiple-column technique that allows any number of columns with completely different content in each. This technique creates columns based on multiple instances of the <!--more--> tag. There are several caveats, so check the original article for all the details.

Here are the steps involved in implementing this technique:

1. Add the my_multi_col_v2 function to your functions.php file
2. Add another snippet to your theme template file, for example page.php
3. Add some CSS to format the markup into columns
4. Add a couple of <!--more--> tags in your post or page to create the three columns

1. Let’s go through these steps, beginning with the main function that you should place into your theme’s functions.php file:

function my_multi_col_v2($content){
	// run through a couple of essential tasks to prepare the content
	$content = apply_filters('the_content', $content);
	$content = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $content);
 
	// the first "more" is converted to a span with ID
	$columns = preg_split('/(<span id="more-\d+"><\/span>)|(<!--more-->)<\/p>/', $content);
	$col_count = count($columns);
 
	if($col_count > 1) {
		for($i=0; $i<$col_count; $i++) {
			// check to see if there is a final </p>, if not add it
			if(!preg_match('/<\/p>\s?$/', $columns[$i]) )  {
				$columns[$i] .= '</p>';
			}
			// check to see if there is an appending </p>, if there is, remove
			$columns[$i] = preg_replace('/^\s?<\/p>/', '', $columns[$i]);
			// now add the div wrapper
			$columns[$i] = '<div class="dynamic-col-'.($i+1).'">'.$columns[$i].'</div>';
		}
		$content = join($columns, "\n").'<div class="clear"></div>';
	}
	else {
		// this page does not have dynamic columns
		$content = wpautop($content);
	}
	// remove any left over empty <p> tags
	$content = str_replace('<p></p>', '', $content);
	return $content;
}

2. Once that’s in place, replace your the_content() tag with the following code:

$content = get_the_content('',FALSE,''); // arguments remove 'more' text
echo my_multi_col_v2($content);

3. The last bit of code that we need to setup is the CSS to make it all sweet:

/* dynamic columns */
div.dynamic-col-1 { float: left; width: 38%; padding-right: 2%;}
div.dynamic-col-2 { float: left; width: 38%;padding-right: 2%;}
div.dynamic-col-3 { float: left; width: 20%;}
div.clear { clear: both; }

4. And last but not least, remember to add the two <!--more--> tags in your post/page content to create the three columns.

That’s all there is to it. Pretty good stuff, but even so, there are even more alternatives available. next we’ll look at a technique for displaying multiple loops in multiple columns.

4. Multiple loops displayed in multiple columns

Not too long ago, I wrote a post at Perishable Press explaining how to display multiple loops with multiple columns. The final product will look display something like this:

• First column, first loop: display posts #1-5
• Second column, second loop: display posts #6-10
• Third column, third loop: display posts #11-15

Using WordPress and a little CSS, this configuration is relatively easy to accomplish. Let’s cut right to the chase..

Step 1: Setup the multiple loops

The first thing we want to do is replace the standard WordPress loop with the following code:

// FIRST LOOP: display posts 1 thru 5
<?php query_posts('showposts=5'); ?>
<?php $posts = get_posts('numberposts=5&offset=0'); foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
<?php static $count1 = 0; if ($count1 == "5") { break; } else { ?>

<?php the_title(); ?>
<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php $count1++; } ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>


// SECOND LOOP: display posts 6 thru 10
<?php query_posts('showposts=5'); ?>
<?php $posts = get_posts('numberposts=5&offset=5'); foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
<?php static $count2 = 0; if ($count2 == "5") { break; } else { ?>

<?php the_title(); ?>
<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php $count2++; } ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>


// THIRD LOOP: display posts 11 thru 15
<?php query_posts('showposts=5'); ?>
<?php $posts = get_posts('numberposts=5&offset=10'); foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
<?php static $count3 = 0; if ($count3 == "5") { break; } else { ?>

<?php the_title(); ?>
<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php $count3++; } ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>

That’s the juice right there. We have three loops, each displaying five posts. The first loop displays the first five posts, the second loop displays the next five posts, and the third loop displays the next five posts. Thus, this multiple-loop configuration displays the most recent 15 posts, each of which being unique. See the original post for more information, options and details.

Step 2: Markup your theme template file(s)

Now that we have the PHP in place, we are ready to add the (X)HTML markup required for the final three-column configuration. There are many ways to accomplish this, this is merely one of them:

<div id="column_01">

	<!-- FIRST LOOP -->

</div>

<div id="column_wrap">

	<div id="column_02">

		<!-- SECOND LOOP -->

	</div>
	<div id="column_03">

		<!-- THIRD LOOP -->
	
	</div>

</div>

Here, each of the three loops will be placed into its own div, which then will be styled with a little CSS to transform it into one of the three columns. Note that you may want to change the id names of the divisions to better represent the particular semantics of your document. Now let’s move on to the CSS..

Step 3: Styling the columns with CSS

The final step in the tutorial is to style the markup with CSS. Nothing too fancy, really. Creating the columns is merely a matter of floating the individual divs and applying a width to each of them:

/* three column layout */
div#column_01 {
	float: left;
	clear: none;
	width: 30%;
	}
div#column_wrap {
	float: right;
	clear: none;
	width: 60%;
	}
	div#column_02 {
		float: left;
		clear: none;
		width: 45%;
		}
	div#column_03 {
		float: right;
		clear: none;
		width: 45%;
		}

The trick here is to use width values that will create the correct column widths. The values used in the example produce three columns of approximately equal width. Again, for more information on the details of this technique, see the original post.

Once you get everything setup, your posts should display your multiple-loop content in multiple columns, with each column showing the contents of a different loop. This is a great way to customize your theme, making it possible to present lots of disparate information within an easy-to-understand layout. Even so, this technique may not do it for you either. If so, we’ve got a couple more WordPress tricks up our sleeve!

5. Display your posts in horizontal display order with two columns

That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? What we’re doing in this section is changing the order in which your two-column posts appear on the page. Typically, your two-column layout displays posts like this:

Post #1   |   Post #4
Post #2   |   Post #5
Post #3   |   Post #6
 .        |    .
 .        |    .
 .        |    .

All of the multi-column methods we’ve discussed so far result in this sort of post-display order. So now we want to change things up a bit and display our two-column posts in horizontal display order, like so:

Post #1   |   Post #2
Post #3   |   Post #4
Post #5   |   Post #6
 .        |    .
 .        |    .
 .        |    .

How is this accomplished? As explained in my horizontal-display tutorial, this is easily accomplished using two default loops and the rewind_posts() function. The first loop will display the posts in the first column, while the second loop will display the posts in the second column. To do this, we use PHP’s modulus operator to filter out every other post from the first loop, which will display posts in horizontal order.

To make this happen, first replace your default WordPress loop with the following code:

<?php if (have_posts()) : while(have_posts()) : $i++; if(($i % 2) == 0) : $wp_query->next_post(); else : the_post(); ?>

<div id="left-column">
<h1><?php the_permalink(); ?></h1>
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div>

<?php endif; endwhile; else: ?>
<div>Alternate content</div>
<?php endif; ?>

<?php $i = 0; rewind_posts(); ?>

<?php if (have_posts()) : while(have_posts()) : $i++; if(($i % 2) !== 0) : $wp_query->next_post(); else : the_post(); ?>

<div id="right-column">
<h1><?php the_permalink(); ?></h1>
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div>

<?php endif; endwhile; else: ?>
<div>Alternate content</div>
<?php endif; ?>

With that code in place, oddly numbered posts will appear within a division identified with an attribute of id="left-column". Likewise, even-numbered posts will appear within a division identified with an attribute of id="right-column". Thus, we may apply the following CSS to position the divisions as two adjacent columns:

div#left-column {
	width: 333px;
	float: left;
	clear: none;
	}
div#right-column {
	width: 333px;
	float: right;
	clear: none;
	}

Of course, when it comes to configuring the WordPress loop and styling your page with CSS, anything is possible. Feel free to experiment and adapt this technique to suit your own diabolical purposes ;)

As with the other methods described in this DiW post, much more information is available for this technique at the original article, including a nice, CSS-only method that is sure to leave you breathless.

6. Bonus: Display category list in two columns

Using a little PHP magic, we can get WordPress’ wp_list_categories() to display our categories in two columns. As Blog Oh Blog explains, all you need is the following code placed in your theme file:

<?php // display categories in two columns
$cats = explode('<br />', wp_list_categories('title_li=&echo=0&depth=1&style=none'));
$cat_n = count($cats) - 1;
for ($i = 0; $i < $cat_n; $i++):
	if ($i < $cat_n/2):
		$cat_left = $cat_left.'<li>'.$cats[$i].'</li>';
	elseif ($i >= $cat_n/2):
		$cat_right = $cat_right.'<li>'.$cats[$i].'</li>';
	endif;
endfor; ?>

<ul class="left">
	<?php echo $cat_left; ?>
</ul>
<ul class="right">
	<?php echo $cat_right; ?>
</ul>

Add that code where you want to display the categories and enjoy the results.

Wrapping it up

Hopefully these techniques will inspire and enable you to break out of the “single-column” mindset and explore some multi-column possibilities. Using multiple columns for your content is a great way to enhance the visual appeal of your design and readability of your content.

There is SO much you can do with WordPress, PHP, (X)HTML, and CSS. The possibilities are endless indeed. The multiple-column techniques presented in this article provide a great starting point for creating more elaborate and sophisticated page layouts. So experiment, have fun, and be safe!!