4 Column Responsive Website Layouts

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These layouts all use the Responsive Columns layout system.

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4 Fixed Columns With Equal-Width & Equal-Height

In this four-column layout, the columns stay side-by-side even on small mobile screens.

The HTML

<r-c join>
    <c1-4 class="red">
        <!-- 1 -->
    </c1-4>
    <c1-4 class="orange">
        <!-- 2 -->
    </c1-4>
    <c1-4 class="yellow">
        <!-- 3 -->
    </c1-4>
    <c1-4 class="green">
        <!-- 4 -->
    </c1-4>
</r-c>

We add the 'join' attribute to remove all gutters, join the columns together, and add padding. Learn more about gutter mode and join mode in the documentation.

The CSS

.red {
    background:#f97171;
}
.orange {
    background:#f99e50;
}
.yellow {
    background:#f5d55f;
}
.green {
    background:#c5ed77;
}

We only need CSS for the background colors, all the structural CSS is handled by the Responsive Columns system.

4 Responsive Columns With Equal-Width & Equal-Height

In this four-column layout, the columns are stacked on mobile, two columns wide on tablet portrait, and four columns wide on tablet landscape and wider.

The HTML

<r-c join>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4 class="red">
        <!-- 1 -->
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4 class="orange">
        <!-- 2 -->
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4 class="yellow">
        <!-- 3 -->
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4 class="green">
        <!-- 4 -->
    </c1-1>
</r-c>

The CSS

.red {
    background:#f97171;
}
.orange {
    background:#f99e50;
}
.yellow {
    background:#f5d55f;
}
.green {
    background:#c5ed77;
}

We only need CSS for the background colors, all the structural CSS is handled by the Responsive Columns system.

4 Column Responsive Layout With Gutters

In this four-column layout, the columns are separated by gutters. The columns stack vertically on mobile, are two columns wide on tablet portrait, and four columns wide on tablet landscape and above.

The HTML

<r-c>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4>
        <!-- first column -->
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4>
        <!-- second column -->
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4>
        <!-- third column -->
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 md1-4>
        <!-- fourth column -->
    </c1-1>
</r-c>

The Responsive Columns layout system uses tiny custom HTML tags that make coding responsive layouts a breeze. You don't need to know any complicated CSS. See the documentation for more details on the custom HTML tags.

The CSS

No CSS is required for this layout because all the work is done by the Responsive Columns system.

Full-Screen 4 Column Layout With Vertically Centered Content

In this four-column layout, the set of columns are forced to the height of your browser window but their content is vertically centered.

On mobile the columns are stacked, on tablet portrait the columns are in a two-by-two grid, and on desktop the columns are four across.

The HTML

<r-c join class="full-height">
    <c1-1 sm1-2 lg1-4 r-c middle class="red">
        <c1-1>
            <!-- Column 1 content -->
        </c1-1>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 lg1-4 r-c middle class="orange">
        <c1-1>
            <!-- Column 2 content -->
        </c1-1>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 lg1-4 r-c middle class="yellow">
        <c1-1>
            <!-- Column 3 content -->
        </c1-1>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1 sm1-2 lg1-4 r-c middle class="green">
        <c1-1>
            <!-- Column 4 content -->
        </c1-1>
    </c1-1>
</r-c>

The vertical centering is achieved by nesting columns and then adding a vertical alignment. See the powerful things you can achieve with nesting here: column nesting documentation.

The CSS

.full-height {
    min-height:100vh; /* vh = viewport height */
}
.red {
    background:#f97171;
}
.orange {
    background:#f99e50;
}
.yellow {
    background:#f5d55f;
}
.green {
    background:#c5ed77;
}

4 Column Rounded Window Layout

This four-column layout uses border-radius and background images to create a round window design.

The HTML

<r-c class="round-window">
    <c1-2>
        <br>
    </c1-2>
    <c1-2>
        <br>
    </c1-2>
    <c1-2>
        <br>
    </c1-2>
    <c1-2>
        <br>
    </c1-2>
</r-c>

The CSS

.round-window {
    min-height:100vw;
    background:#72c2f1;
    margin:0;
    padding:calc(8px + 1.5625vw);
}
.round-window > * {
    background-color:#fff;
    background-size:cover;
    background-position:50% 50%;
}
.round-window > :nth-child(1) {
    border-top-left-radius:100%;
    background-image:url(https://picsum.photos/640/640);
}
.round-window > :nth-child(2) {
    border-top-right-radius:100%;
    background-image:url(https://picsum.photos/640/640);
}
.round-window > :nth-child(3) {
    border-bottom-left-radius:100%;
    background-image:url(https://picsum.photos/640/640);
}
.round-window > :nth-child(4) {
    border-bottom-right-radius:100%;
    background-image:url(https://picsum.photos/640/640);
}

Note: I'm using Lorem Picsum for random photos as the column backgrounds. You can use whatever images you like.

4 Column Image Cards With Clickable Captions

This four-column layout is a set of responsive cards with images and clickable captions. The links are made larger with pseudo elements to make the whole card clickable (see the explanation below).

The HTML

<r-c sm1-2 md1-3 lg1-4 class="image-cards">
    <c1-1>
        <figure>
            <img src="https://picsum.photos/640/480" width="640" height="480" alt="Nature image" />
            <figcaption><a href="#image-cards">Clickable caption</a></figcaption>
        </figure>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1>
        <figure>
            <img src="https://picsum.photos/640/480" width="640" height="480" alt="Nature image" />
            <figcaption><a href="#image-cards">Clickable caption</a></figcaption>
        </figure>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1>
        <figure>
            <img src="https://picsum.photos/640/480" width="640" height="480" alt="Nature image" />
            <figcaption><a href="#image-cards">Clickable caption</a></figcaption>
        </figure>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1>
        <figure>
            <img src="https://picsum.photos/640/480" width="640" height="480" alt="Nature image" />
            <figcaption><a href="#image-cards">Clickable caption</a></figcaption>
        </figure>
    </c1-1>
</r-c>

You can add as many cards in the set of columns as you like.

The CSS

.image-cards > * {
    background:#fff;
    border-radius:.5em;
    overflow:hidden;
    box-shadow:0 5px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 25%);
    position:relative;
}
.image-cards figure {
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
    display:block;
}
.image-cards img {
    display:block;
    max-width:100%;
    height:auto;
}
.image-cards figcaption {
    margin:0;
    padding:.5em 1em;
    text-align:center;
    font-style:italic;
}
.image-cards figcaption a {
    text-decoration:none;
}
.image-cards figcaption a:hover {
    text-decoration:underline;
}
.image-cards figcaption a:after {
    content:"";
    display:block;
    position:absolute;
    top:0;
    left:0;
    right:0;
    bottom:0;
}

How to make a whole card clickable

To make a whole card clickable, put a position:relative; on the card container, add an :after pseudo element to the link and position it absolutely with top, left, right, and bottom dimensions set to zero. This will make the link's clickable area equal to the full size of the card.

4 Column Progress Layout With Arrow Steps

This four-column layout includes arrows to so the progression between steps. The steps stact vertically on mobile, form two columns on tablet, and a single row of four columns on desktop. The arrows always point to the next step up to a maximum of 4 steps.

The HTML

<r-c sm1-2 lg1-4 class="step-arrows">
    <c1-1>
        <h3>Step 1.</h3>
        <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1>
        <h3>Step 2.</h3>
        <p>Quisque iaculis lectus vel metus pellentesque.</p>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1>
        <h3>Step 3.</h3>
        <p>Quisque iaculis lectus vel metus pellentesque, eu venenatis est euismod.</p>
    </c1-1>
    <c1-1>
        <h3>Step 4.</h3>
        <p>Consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque iaculis lectus vel metus pellentesque.</p>
    </c1-1>
</r-c>

The CSS

.step-arrows > * {
    background:#fff;
    padding:0;
    border:2px solid #444;
    position:relative;
}
.step-arrows > *:before {
    content:"";
    display:block;
    position:absolute;
    width:calc((8px + 1.5625vw)*2);
    height:calc((8px + 1.5625vw)*2/3);
    background-image:url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg width="150" height="50" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 150 50"><path fill="%23ec1358" d="M90 0v13.15H0v23.7h90V50l60-25z"/></svg>');
    background-size:contain;
    background-repeat:no-repeat;
    z-index:10;
}
.step-arrows > *:first-child:before {
    display:none;
}
.step-arrows > * h3 {
    background:#444;
    color:#fff;
    margin:0;
    padding:.4em 1em .5em;
}
.step-arrows > * p {
    margin:0;
    padding:.5em 1em;
}
@media (max-width:599px) {
    .step-arrows > *:before {
        right:50%;
        bottom:100%;
        transform:translate(50%, calc(-50% + 4px)) rotate(90deg);
    }
}
@media (min-width:600px) and (max-width:1199px) {
    .step-arrows > *:before {
        top:50%;
        right:100%;
        transform:translate(calc((8px + 1.5625vw)/2), -50%);
    }
    .step-arrows > *:nth-child(2n+1):before {
        transform:translate(-24%, -30%) rotate(135deg);
        top:auto;
        right:auto;
        left:100%;
        bottom:100%;
    }
}
@media (min-width:1200px) {
    .step-arrows > *:before {
        top:50%;
        right:100%;
        transform:translate(calc((8px + 1.5625vw)/2), -50%);
    }
}

4 Column Layout With Semantic HTML5 Tags

This four-column layout uses semantic HTML5 tags. The columns stack on mobile, are two wide on tablet, and four wide on larger devices.

The HTML

<article data-r-c data-join>
    <section data-c1-1 data-sm1-2 data-md1-4 class="red">
        <!-- Column 1 -->
    </section>
    <section data-c1-1 data-sm1-2 data-md1-4 class="orange">
        <!-- Column 2 -->
    </section>
    <section data-c1-1 data-sm1-2 data-md1-4 class="yellow">
        <!-- Column 3 -->
    </section>
    <section data-c1-1 data-sm1-2 data-md1-4 class="green">
        <!-- Column 4 -->
    </section>
</article>

The Responsive Columns system is compatible with semantic tags. Full details here: How to use semantic HTML tags with responsive columns.

The CSS

.red {
    background:#f97171;
}
.orange {
    background:#f99e50;
}
.yellow {
    background:#f5d55f;
}
.green {
    background:#c5ed77;
}

Need to support old browsers?

If you need to achieve 4 equal-height columns in old browsers (back to IE 5.5) that don't support flexbox CSS, you can use my nested equal-height columns method, here is an example of a 4 column layout without flexbox.