CSS columns and margin issue

Question

Update: The latest code which works in all browsers is located in this JSFiddle - https://jsfiddle.net/webvitaly/yu00ugft/5/

I am trying to make responsive columns using pure CSS approach.

I have an issue where columns sometimes have gap/margin at the top.

JSFiddle link to try and explore - https://jsfiddle.net/webvitaly/yu00ugft/

How to solve it?

CSS:

.fx-columns {
  background: yellow;
    -webkit-column-count: 2;
    -moz-column-count: 2;
    column-count: 2;
    -webkit-column-gap: 30px;
    -moz-column-gap: 30px;
    column-gap: 30px;
}

.fx-columns-3 {
    -webkit-column-count: 3;
    -moz-column-count: 3;
    column-count: 3;
}

.fx-columns-4 {
    -webkit-column-count: 4;
    -moz-column-count: 4;
    column-count: 4;
}

.fx-columns .fx-column {
    -webkit-column-break-inside: avoid;
    break-inside: avoid;
  background: pink;
  clear: both;
  margin-bottom: 20px;
}

HTML:

<div class="fx-columns fx-columns-4">
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
  <div class="fx-column">
    <h3>Header</h3>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
    <p>Text paragraph</p>
  </div>
</div>

Answer 1

Currently, you're keeping the content from breaking between columns. However, the browser breaks the margin between columns, which is causing some of the columns to not start at the top.

Add this to your css:

.fx-column {
  display: inline-block;
}

You'll then have to give the columns a fixed width.

Know, however, that there are a lot of issues with using the column count css property. See this article for more information.

Edit: If you want the column widths to be responsive, you can simply set them to width: 100% so that they expand as the browser expands.