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Column Layout Design for WordPress Websites

Choosing the number of columns for page layout is a critical decision in WordPress website design. The more columns in a site's design and layout, the skinnier those columns need to be to fully display across the width of a visitor’s screen.

A website that uses a one-column layout has a single column that spans the full width of the browser window, whereas a website that uses a four-column layout has four smaller columns that span that same width. Most layouts are anywhere from one to three columns, with each column holding different types of content, such as blog posts, navigation menus, advertisement banners, and so on.

A two-column layout is the most popular, followed by a three-column layout, and in some cases, you do see a one-column layout.

An example of a one-column layout.
An example of a one-column layout.

Take into account the following factors when deciding how many columns to use in a site design:

  • What type of content is being presented

  • How much content there is

  • Whether you, or your client, intend to advertise, sell products, or host videos or audio files

The answers to these questions help determine how many columns a website needs to cleanly accommodate and present the site’s different content offerings to visitors.

A website should have a clean and organized feel that ensures it’s not too cluttered and confusing to the visitors. If there is a lot of content to display, consider using a larger number of columns to present the content in an orderly way. Compare this two-column layout, used by E. Webscapes, to this three-column layout used by Safe Mama.

An example of a two-column layout.
An example of a two-column layout.
An example of a three-column layout.
An example of a three-column layout.
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