Distribute growing list of data evenly in columns
Hi-
I have a list of information that is continually
growing that I want to display on a page in 3 columns.
It is currently displayed in one long column.
I can't seem to figure out how to code the page so that
it distributes the data in equal length columns as the
list grows.....
Any help or direction is appreciated.
CBC58
Megan posted this at 14:23 — 2nd December 2003.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I think this is actually tougher than you'd think. HTML hasn't been scturectured to allow for columned layouts, so you'll have to find a work-around. (although there is talk of future versions supporting columns) I'll bump this over to Web Authoring since the folks over there will be more likely to know of a solution.
Megan
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Suzanne posted this at 15:37 — 2nd December 2003.
She has: 5,507 posts
Joined: Feb 2000
Well, here's the scoop -- columns on the web that are generally quite annoying. Anything that you would read in a chunk is better left in a chunk. Smaller blurbs, naturally, don't worry about flow as much, and aren't as big a deal to read online because you can read them in one screen, then scroll down for the next set.
The column support that is purportedly coming should apply to print styles only, however it will likely be added to web styles as well. This is in CSS-3 and may not fulfill 3 columns of text.
Your best solution for current technologies is to use a server-side language to split the content, if you insist on columns. A better solution may be to add internal targets for users to navigate within the long column, or break it into several pages.
cbc58 posted this at 00:12 — 3rd December 2003.
They have: 140 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
Thanks very much for the input..... guess I'll have to come up with
another solution to displaying the list of data.
nicora posted this at 00:40 — 3rd December 2003.
He has: 267 posts
Joined: Nov 2001
Server side is the way to go, but if you have to use client side only, try this. No matter how many elements you use, there will always be just three columns. This has to be fixed with, however.
http://www.seemecreate.com/archive/grid.htm
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