Title: Multicolumn Category Widget
Author: Arno Welzel
Published: <strong>April 8, 2014</strong>
Last modified: May 27, 2026

---

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![](https://ps.w.org/multicolumn-category-widget/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2953066)

# Multicolumn Category Widget

 By [Arno Welzel](https://profiles.wordpress.org/awelzel/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget.1.0.28.zip)

 * [Details](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/#installation)
 * [Development](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/)

## Description

This widget displays top level categories in multiple columns.

After installation, just add the widget to desired sidebar or footer and optionally
enter a custom title and the number of columns to be displayed.

By default two columns are used, but you can set any number of columns you like 
in the backend.

Also see details at [http://arnowelzel.de/wp/en/projects/wordpress/multicolumn-category-widget](http://arnowelzel.de/wp/en/projects/wordpress/multicolumn-category-widget).

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * Configuration options of the widget in the backend
 * [[
 * Example for the use in the frontend

## Installation

 1. Extract the contents of the package to the `/wp-content/plugins/multicolumn-category-
    widget` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

## FAQ

### How can I customize the style of the widget?

All styles can be found in `css/frontend.css`. Since these styles get overwritten
when updating the widget, you should add the custom styles to your theme.

### Is it possible to get more translations?

Generally the widget supports multiple languages – you can use Loco Translate to
add more languages, if needed.

If you want to provide a translation in your language which is missing yet, you’re
welcome to send me the po/mo files for the next update.

### The categories are not displayed in multiple columns, why?

The layout uses multiple lists which are displayed next to each other using the 
CSS rule `display:inline-block`.

This means: If there not enough room to display multiple columns (either because
the sidebar of the template is too narrow or the available viewport of the device
is very small), the browser will eventually fall back to show only a single column.
But this is intentional to make sure that the category list is always completely
visible – even on smaller screens or on narrow smaller sidebars – and won’t break
the layout of the template by using more room as available.

In rare cases a template or a plugin changes the default behaviour of the WordPress
core function `the_widget()`, which usually outputs widgets with their own CSS classes–
in this case you might have to add your own styles based on the rules in `css/frontend.
css` but without `.widget_multicolumncategorywidget`. However the better solution
would be to check the template and/or other plugins, why the widget specific CSS
classes are missing.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7cbd3b515a7227cba30f6ab7a14208d739ce2f3fd19feff72263e2e4e2ac6a40?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works Good](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/doesnt-work-with-my-theme-7/)󠁿

 [WillOfTheWeb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/willoftheweb/) October 4, 2021 2 
replies

It didnt work initially but this was because there wasnt enough room in the widget
area to create two columns. I tweaked my design a bit to allow for a bigger widget
area and I reduced the site of the font and it works great.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4052db434ab982650d5b4b61527674cb287ed637871440b1ddc8333bad5463be?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Нет подкатегорий](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/%d0%bd%d0%b5%d1%82-%d0%bf%d0%be%d0%b4%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%b3%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%b9/)󠁿

 [Andrew](https://profiles.wordpress.org/papex/) August 10, 2018 11 replies

Беполезен.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a513d3b7ab43230041ebcb3435301ecc7b7e411ab62de597602cfb16194ce2ca?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works great!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-great-3705/)󠁿

 [AL Guevara](https://profiles.wordpress.org/albabes/) February 15, 2017

Css styling instructs work too!

 [ Read all 5 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Multicolumn Category Widget” is open source software. The following people have
contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Arno Welzel ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/awelzel/)

“Multicolumn Category Widget” has been translated into 4 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/contributors)
for their contributions.

[Translate “Multicolumn Category Widget” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/multicolumn-category-widget)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/multicolumn-category-widget/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/multicolumn-category-widget/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/multicolumn-category-widget/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/multicolumn-category-widget/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

= 1.0.28=
 * Update compability information for WordPress 7.0.

= 1.0.27=
 * Update compability information for WordPress 6.9.

= 1.0.26=
 * Updated plugin initialization as a preparation for WordPress 6.8.

= 1.0.25=
 * Fix warnings in WordPress 6.7 by removing translation for plugin name.

= 1.0.24=
 * Updated plugin initialization as a preparation for WordPress 6.7.

= 1.0.23=
 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 6.6

= 1.0.22=
 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 6.5

= 1.0.21=
 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 6.3

= 1.0.20=
 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 6.0

= 1.0.19=
 * Code refactoring * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 
5.5

#### 1.0.18

 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 4.6

#### 1.0.17

 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 4.5

#### 1.0.16

 * Added translation for plugin information in the backend (plugin title, description
   etc.)

#### 1.0.15

 * Modified default frontend styles to avoid bullets in category titles in certain
   themes (for example Twenty Fifteen).

#### 1.0.14

 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 4.3

#### 1.0.13

 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 4.2.3

#### 1.0.12

 * Added placeholder for the category title in the backend configuration options

#### 1.0.11

 * Updated compatibility information for WordPress 4.1.1

#### 1.0.10

 * Proper use of version parameter for frontend styles (plugin version and not WordPress
   version)

#### 1.0.9

 * Added Russian (thanks Flector)

#### 1.0.8

 * Updated compatibility to support WordPress 4.0

#### 1.0.7

 * Fixed version information

#### 1.0.6

 * Updated translations (German, Italian, French)

#### 1.0.5

 * Updated WordPress compatibility information (3.9.1)
 * Added “show post counts” option

#### 1.0.4

 * Updated WordPress compatibility information (3.9)

#### 1.0.3

 * Updated WordPress compatibility information (3.8.3)

#### 1.0.2

 * Fixed a bug in the title output: Standard title was displayed even with a custom
   title set.

#### 1.0.1

 * Added French and Italian.
 * Added translation template (pot).

#### 1.0

 * First release.

## Meta

 *  Version **1.0.28**
 *  Last updated **2 weeks ago**
 *  Active installations **300+**
 *  WordPress version ** 3.6 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.0**
 *  Languages
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/), [German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/),
   [Italian](https://it.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/), [Russian](https://ru.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/),
   and [Swedish](https://sv.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/multicolumn-category-widget)
 * Tags
 * [category](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/category/)[widget](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/widget/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/multicolumn-category-widget/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4.2 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  4 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  1 1-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/?filter=1)

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Arno Welzel ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/awelzel/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/multicolumn-category-widget/)