CSS: Example. 3-Column Side-Panel Layout (via margin) (2007)

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

page outdated

this page was written in 2007, before Grid Layout and Flexbox Layout became available around 2017. You should use those instead.

Here is how to create a 3-columns layout using CSS.

Margin can be used to create several columns or panes.

CSS 3 columns layout 7466
CSS, 3 columns layout

Code

<body>
<div id="xpanel-mid">some thing</div>
<div id="xpanel-left">some thing</div>
<div id="xpanel-right">some thing</div>
</body>
#xpanel-mid {
 margin-left: 20%;
 margin-right: 20%;
 background-color: lightyellow;
}

#xpanel-left {
 width: 20%;
 position: absolute;
 top: 0;
 left: 0;
 background-color: yellow;
}

#xpanel-right {
 width: 20%;
 position: absolute;
 top: 0;
 right: 0;
 background-color: pink;
}

Create 3 div elements, and set each's width.

For the middle panel, set margin-left and margin-right. This will fix it into a narrow central column.

For the left panel, specify a width that is the same as the middle's margin-left. This will fix the panel on the left side with a fixed width. Similar for the right pane.

The position: absolute is optional. It makes it into its layer. [see CSS: Position Absolute]

You should also add padding. [see CSS Margin vs Padding]

Any text that is not in one of the left/middle/right containers will be left on the bottom.

CSS. Layout