Forum:References 2 column format instability

Forums: Index > Village Dump > References 2 column format instability

Note: This topic has been unedited for 1737 days. It is considered archived - the discussion is over.

This is a FYI and not a fix request.

The template reflist|2 seems to be what is typically used to create a 2-column list. It splits the list into whatever it considers to be half the total entries, which is also fine.

For Beast of Bodmin Moor#References, there were originally 7 entries/footnotes, creating an "unbalanced" table, which is to be expected. But while having this page viewable while working on other things in a different window, I found that every couple minutes, the 4th entry would jump from one column to the other and then a couple minutes later, jump back again. This may have been perfect the storm of dynamic formatting, but it was irritating enough that I created an 8th entry (#5 on the list) to stop it. I suppose this is to be expected since column length formatting is dynamic, but I've never seen this before. -- (talk) 01:11, 23 July 2019 (UTC)

The HTML code generated uses style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2;" and gives no guidance to the browser, Mozilla or otherwise, about where to make the break between the two columns. So I think the instability is the result of something within the browser. It could be triggered by anything from changing the length of the footnotes to opening the browser on a different screen or a different-width window. Spıke 🎙️01:43 23-Jul-19