How To Lay-out List Items Like A Grid With CSS And HTML?

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Learn more about Labs How to lay-out list items like a grid with CSS and HTML? Ask Question Asked 11 years, 9 months ago Modified 3 years, 5 months ago Viewed 80k times 17

I have a div block which does not have a fixed width.

Inside, I have an <ul> <li>..</li> block with 11 items. I would like these <li> items to be listed inside the div, all with equal widths like this:

##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item## ##item##

However, I can't sort it out at all.

I tried float left and right but the central 3 elements will not be centered.

What can I do to get this working?

Thanks!

• html
• css

Share Improve this question Follow asked Feb 14, 2013 at 22:13 PhilPhil 14.6k2323 gold badges8585 silver badges127127 bronze badges 1

• Could you include the relevant markup and CSS? You probably just need to specify a width for each LI. – Kevin Boucher Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 22:23

Add a comment |

4 Answers 4

Sorted by: Reset to default Highest score (default) Trending (recent votes count more) Date modified (newest first) Date created (oldest first) 32

The "Inline Blocks" link that Jordan posted is a great resource, particularly when it comes to older browser support. For quick reference for others landing on this page off of google, the basic css for creating a centered, inline-block grid is:

ul { margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; } li { display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; } Share Improve this answer Follow edited Oct 30, 2018 at 15:22 Jeromy French 12.1k1919 gold badges7878 silver badges134134 bronze badges answered Feb 10, 2014 at 13:40 FreedomManFreedomMan 44344 silver badges66 bronze badges Add a comment | 30

The simplest solution is to use CSS columns:

http://jsfiddle.net/6tD2D/ (prefixes not included)

ul { columns: 3; } <ul> <li>a</li> <li>b</li> <li>c</li> <li>d</li> <li>e</li> <li>f</li> <li>g</li> <li>h</li> <li>i</li> <li>j</li> <li>k</li> </ul>

This will equalize the columns as best it can. However, if there aren't enough elements to be perfectly equal, it will start removing them from the right instead of the center.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Oct 30, 2018 at 15:25 Jeromy French 12.1k1919 gold badges7878 silver badges134134 bronze badges answered Feb 14, 2013 at 22:23 cimmanoncimmanon 68.3k1717 gold badges168168 silver badges172172 bronze badges 3

• the jsfiddle example does not work in my chrome only 1 column – Dukeatcoding Commented Aug 19, 2013 at 15:56
• Nor does it work with IEOld. See bottom of developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/columns for compatibility. – Jeromy French Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 15:25
• Is there a simple solution like this, but where you want the elements to go out right (horizontally) first, and not downwards? – Ela782 Commented May 5, 2020 at 21:20

Add a comment | 4

According to this StackOverflow question, Inline Blocks may be just what you need.

Oh, and if you aren't implementing it already, be sure to look into CSS Grids, too. If you don't want to build a CSS grid yourself, this one is fantastic.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited May 23, 2017 at 12:01 CommunityBot 111 silver badge answered Feb 14, 2013 at 22:25 Jordan ThornquestJordan Thornquest 1,13622 gold badges1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges Add a comment | 1

CSS

ul { display: grid; grid-auto-columns: 1fr; grid-auto-rows: 1fr; grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr; grid-template-rows: 1fr 1fr 1fr 1fr; gap: 0px 0px; grid-template-areas: "col1-item1 col2-item1 col3-item1" "col1-item2 col2-item2 col3-item2" "col1-item3 col2-item3 col3-item3" "col1-item4 col2-item3 col3-item4"; } /* Assign a class to each li */ /* Column 1 */ .col1-item1 { grid-area: col1-item1; } .col1-item2 { grid-area: col1-item2; } .col1-item3 { grid-area: col1-item3; } .col1-item4 { grid-area: col1-item4; } /* Column 2 */ .col2-item1 { grid-area: col2-item1; } .col2-item2 { grid-area: col2-item2; } .col2-item3 { grid-area: col2-item3; } /* Column 3 */ .col3-item1 { grid-area: col3-item1; } .col3-item2 { grid-area: col3-item2; } .col3-item3 { grid-area: col3-item3; } .col3-item4 { grid-area: col3-item4; }

HTML

<ul> <!-- Column 1 --> <li class="col1-item1">col1 item 1</li> <li class="col1-item2">col1 item 2</li> <li class="col1-item3">col1 item 3</li> <li class="col1-item4">col1 item 4</li> <!-- Column 2 --> <li class="col2-item1">col2 item 1</li> <li class="col2-item2">col2 item 2</li> <li class="col2-item3">col2 item 3</li> <!-- Column 3 --> <li class="col3-item1">col3 item 1</li> <li class="col3-item2">col3 item 2</li> <li class="col3-item3">col3 item 3</li> <li class="col3-item4">col3 item 4</li> </ul>

Here is the fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/omarjuvera/p3wajehs/2/ And also you can run the code here

ul { display: grid; grid-auto-columns: 1fr; grid-auto-rows: 1fr; grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr; grid-template-rows: 1fr 1fr 1fr 1fr; gap: 0px 0px; grid-template-areas: "col1-item1 col2-item1 col3-item1" "col1-item2 col2-item2 col3-item2" "col1-item3 col2-item3 col3-item3" "col1-item4 col2-item3 col3-item4"; } /* Assign a class to each li */ /* Column 1 */ .col1-item1 { grid-area: col1-item1; } .col1-item2 { grid-area: col1-item2; } .col1-item3 { grid-area: col1-item3; } .col1-item4 { grid-area: col1-item4; } /* Column 2 */ .col2-item1 { grid-area: col2-item1; } .col2-item2 { grid-area: col2-item2; } .col2-item3 { grid-area: col2-item3; } /* Column 3 */ .col3-item1 { grid-area: col3-item1; } .col3-item2 { grid-area: col3-item2; } .col3-item3 { grid-area: col3-item3; } .col3-item4 { grid-area: col3-item4; } <ul> <!-- Column 1 --> <li class="col1-item1">col1 item 1</li> <li class="col1-item2">col1 item 2</li> <li class="col1-item3">col1 item 3</li> <li class="col1-item4">col1 item 4</li> <!-- Column 2 --> <li class="col2-item1">col2 item 1</li> <li class="col2-item2">col2 item 2</li> <li class="col2-item3">col2 item 3</li> <!-- Column 3 --> <li class="col3-item1">col3 item 1</li> <li class="col3-item2">col3 item 2</li> <li class="col3-item3">col3 item 3</li> <li class="col3-item4">col3 item 4</li> </ul>

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Jun 14, 2021 at 6:19 answered Jun 14, 2021 at 6:08 Omar JuveraOmar Juvera 12.2k2121 gold badges8888 silver badges115115 bronze badges Add a comment |

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