flow 2 columns of text automatically with CSS

I have the code similar to the following:

<p>This is paragraph 1. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 2. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 3. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 4. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 5. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 6. Lorem ipsum ... </p>

I'd like to, without markup if possible, cause this text to flow into two columns (1-3 on the left, 4-6 on the right). The reason for my hesitation to add a column using a <div> is that this text is entered by the client via a WYSIWYG editor, so any elements I inject are likely to be killed later or inexplicably.

Use CSS3

.container {
   -webkit-column-count: 2;
      -moz-column-count: 2;
           column-count: 2;

   -webkit-column-gap: 20px;
      -moz-column-gap: 20px;
           column-gap: 20px;
}

Browser Support

• Chrome 4.0+ (-webkit-)
• IE 10.0+
• Firefox 2.0+ (-moz-)
• Safari 3.1+ (-webkit-)
• Opera 15.0+ (-webkit-)

Using jQuery

Create a second column and move over the elements you need into it.

<script type="text/javascript">
  $(document).ready(function() {
    var size = $("#data > p").size();
 $(".Column1 > p").each(function(index){
  if (index >= size/2){
   $(this).appendTo("#Column2");
  }
 });
  });
</script>

<div id="data" class="Column1" style="float:left;width:300px;">
<!--   data Start -->
<p>This is paragraph 1. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 2. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 3. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 4. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 5. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<p>This is paragraph 6. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
<!--   data Emd-->
</div>
<div id="Column2" style="float:left;width:300px;"></div>

Update:

Or Since the requirement now is to have them equally sized. I would suggest using the prebuilt jQuery plugins: Columnizer jQuery Plugin

http://jsfiddle.net/dPUmZ/1/

Automatically floating two columns next to eachother is not currently possible only with CSS/HTML. Two ways to achieve this:

Method 1: When there's no continous text, just lots of non-related paragraphs:

Float all paragraphs to the left, give them half the width of the containing element and if possible set a fixed height.

<div id="container">
  <p>This is paragraph 1. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 2. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 3. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 4. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 5. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 6. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
</div>

#container { width: 600px; }
#container p { float: left; width: 300px; /* possibly also height: 300px; */ }

You can also insert clearer-divs between paragraphs to avoid having to use a fixed height. If you want two columns, add a clearer-div between two-and-two paragraphs. This will align the top of the two next paragraphs, making it look more tidy. Example:

<div id="container">
  <p>This is paragraph 1. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 2. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <div class="clear"></div>
  <p>This is paragraph 3. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 4. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <div class="clear"></div>
  <p>This is paragraph 5. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  <p>This is paragraph 6. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
</div>

/* in addition to the above CSS */
.clear { clear: both; height: 0; }

Method 2: When the text is continous

More advanced, but it can be done.

<div id="container">
  <div class="contentColumn">
    <p>This is paragraph 1. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
    <p>This is paragraph 2. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
    <p>This is paragraph 3. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  </div>
  <div class="contentColumn">
    <p>This is paragraph 4. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
    <p>This is paragraph 5. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
    <p>This is paragraph 6. Lorem ipsum ... </p>
  </div>
</div>

.contentColumn { width: 300px; float: left; }
#container { width: 600px; }

When it comes to the ease of use: none of these are really easy for a non-technical client. You might attempt to explain to him/her how to do this properly, and tell him/her why. Learning very basic HTML is not a bad idea anyways, if the client is going to be updating the web pages via a WYSIWYG-editor in the future.

Or you could try to implement some Javascript-solution that counts the total number of paragraphs, splits them in two and creates columns. This will also degrade gracefully for those who have JavaScript disabled. A third option is to have all this splitting-into-columns-action happen serverside if this is an option.

(Method 3: CSS3 Multi-column Layout Module)

You might read about the CSS3 way of doing it, but it's not really practical for a production website. Not yet, at least.