To create columns in an article one may use {{colbegin}} and {{colend}}. Note that this is not supported by Internet Explorer version 9 and below or Opera version 11 and below — see {{Div col}} for details. This example uses {{lorem}} to generate placeholder text.

{{colbegin}}
{{lorem}}
{{lorem}}
{{colend}}

produces:

You can also use {{col-begin}}, {{col-break}}, and {{col-end}}. But don't use this variety to set numbered or bulleted lists in columns, because {{col-break}} breaks the list up, which is a problem for accessibility.

As such:

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{{lorem}}
{{col-break}}
{{lorem}}
{{col-break}}
{{lorem}}
{{col-end}}

creates

MediaWiki:Common.css defines the following styles:

• "div.columns-2", "div.columns-3", "div.columns-4" and "div.columns-5" which need to contain a "div.column"

• {{colbegin}} and {{divbegin}} – utilizes CSS3 features
• {{Columns-start}} – defines CSS classes (see above)
• {{col-begin}} – uses an HTML table (also adds a MULTICOL attribute)
• {{col-begin-small}}
• {{div col}} – uses CSS3
• {{columns-list}} – uses CSS3

The templates {{div col}} and {{divbegin}} use a feature in CSS3 that is implemented in:

• Gecko-based browsers, such as Firefox 1.5
• Presto-based browsers, such as Opera 11.1
• WebKit-based browsers, such as Safari (web browser) 3 and Google Chrome 1
• MSHTML-based browsers, such as Internet Explorer 10

• Help:Tables
• m:wiki markup tables
• Template:Columns-list