How do I display WordPress posts into 3 columns horizontally?

Question

I am integrating my theme built with Bootstrap into WordPress and I am now faced with the challenge of displaying my posts horizontally instead of vertically. The design uses 3 columns.

The solution for two columns posted at this site (http://perishablepress.com/two-column-horizontal-sequence-wordpress-post-order/) was helpful but it posts repeats of previously displayed posts when used with 3 columns.

Here is my code:

    <div class="row">

    <?php if (have_posts()) : while(have_posts()) : $i++; if(($i % 2) == 0) : $wp_query->next_post(); else : the_post(); ?>

    <div class="col-sm-4">
    <img src="<?php the_field('home_page_slider_image'); ?>" class="img-responsive" >
    <h3><?php the_field( 'description' ); ?></h3>

    </div>

    <?php endif; endwhile; else: ?>
    <div>Alternate content</div>
    <?php endif; ?>

    <?php $i = 0; rewind_posts(); ?>

    <?php if (have_posts()) : while(have_posts()) : $i++; if(($i % 2) !== 0) : $wp_query->next_post(); else : the_post(); ?>

    <div class="col-sm-4">
    <img src="<?php the_field('home_page_slider_image'); ?>" class="img-responsive" >
    <h3><?php the_field( 'description' ); ?></h3>
    </div>

    <?php endif; endwhile; else: ?>
    <div>Alternate content</div>
    <?php endif; ?>


    <?php $i = 0; rewind_posts(); ?>

    <?php if (have_posts()) : while(have_posts()) : $i++; if(($i % 2) !== 0) : $wp_query->next_post(); else : the_post(); ?>

    <div class="col-sm-4">
    <img src="<?php the_field('home_page_slider_image'); ?>" class="img-responsive" >
    <h3><?php the_field( 'description' ); ?></h3>
    </div>

    <?php endif; endwhile; else: ?>
    <div>Alternate content</div>
    <?php endif; ?>



    </div>

Any help would be grateful.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Take a look on this example, Its working like you want, and arrange your code according to this example.

$i = 1;
echo "<div class='row'>\n";
while( $i <= 10 ){

    echo "  <div class='col-lg-4'></div>\n";
    if( $i % 3 == 0 ) { echo "</div>\n<div class='row'>\n"; }

    $i++;
}
echo "</div>\n";

http://codepad.org/Qesw28Cw

Answer 2

I built the html strings into a dynamic array, then echo the rows after the have_posts() loop. This divides the number of posts by 4 then orders them vertically in 4 columns. Here is my example:

$query = new WP_Query(array(
                        'post_status'   => 'publish',
                        'orderby'       => 'title',
                        'order'         => 'ASC',
                        'posts_per_page'    => -1
                        ));

$post_count = $query->post_count;
$posts_per_column = ceil($post_count / 4);      

$rows = array();                                            
$count = 0;
while ($query->have_posts())
{ $query->the_post(); 
    if($rows[$count] == ""){ $rows[$count] = '<div class="row">'; }
    $rows[$count] = $rows[$count] . '<div class="col-sm-3">' .
            '<div class="post-title">
             <a href="'.get_permalink().'">'.get_the_title().'</a></div>' .
            '<div class="post-author">by '. get_the_author() .'</div></div>';
    $count++;                           
    if ($count == $posts_per_column ) { $count = 0; }   
}

foreach ($rows as $row) { echo $row . '</div>'; }