Template:Multicol
Usage
[edit]{{Multicol}} is used to start a multi-column section of a page. Between each block of column text insert {{Multicol-break}} and close the last column with {{Multicol-end}}. For example:
{{Multicol}}
This text appears in the first column.
{{Multicol-break}}
This text appears in the second column.
{{Multicol-break}}
This text appears in the third column.
{{Multicol-end}}
You can have any number of columns. Each column will be the same width, equally dividing the available horizontal space. Each column has a small right margin (20 pixels), creating a "gutter" that prevents text in one column from touching text in the column to its right. See franl's user page for examples of how this template can be used.
Parameters
[edit]This template has two optional parameters: the overall width of the set of columns and the width of the gutter. The overall width of the set of columns can be an absolute value (e.g., 40em) or a percentage of the available page width (e.g., 50%). This parameter defaults to 100%. For example, to create a multi-column section that is only 50% the width of the page:
{{Multicol|50%}}
This text appears in the first column.
{{Multicol-break}}
This text appears in the second column.
{{Multicol-break}}
This text appears in the third column.
{{Multicol-end}}
The multi-column region is always positioned on the left side of the containing block. To change this, place the above Wikitext in a DIV block that has the CSS attribute text-align set to either center or right, like this:
<div style="text-align:center;">{{center|
{{Multicol|50%}}
...
{{Multicol-end}}
}}</div>
Related templates
[edit]The templates {{Col-begin}} and friends do something similar to this template and its friends, but this template may be easier to use. Each of the following examples produce the same result (a 3-column table in which all columns have equal width):
{{Multicol}}
Column 1
{{Multicol-break}}
Column 2
{{Multicol-break}}
Column 3
{{Multicol-end}}
|
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-3}}
Column 1
{{Col-3}}
Column 2
{{Col-3}}
Column 3
{{Col-end}}
|
It's simpler to add more columns to the {{Multicol}} example than to the {{Col-begin}} example, because in the latter case, all occurrences of {{Col-3}} would need to be changed to {{Col-4}}.