Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-multicol] Examples 30 & 31 do not follow from the spec - column balancing is under-specified and/or incorrect (#13957)

It seems that these examples try to explain the last part of that passage from the [ยง8 Filling Columns](https://www.w3.org/TR/css-multicol-2/#filling-columns):

> If columns are balanced, user agents should try to minimize variations in column height, while honoring forced breaks, [widows](https://www.w3.org/TR/css-break-4/#propdef-widows) and [orphans](https://www.w3.org/TR/css-break-3/#propdef-orphans), _and other properties that may affect column heights_.

I.e. _generally_ the balancing algorithm tries to minimize variations in column height _as much as possible_ (by choosing the most fitting height for all columns), but there can be things that explicitly or implicitly set the minimum column height, and in such cases the balancing algorithm can't make the height of all columns smaller than that minimum even if there is not enough content to fill the other columns. And after the column height is chosen, no other adjustment can be done, only sequential filling.

That said, I agree that the phrase "If columns are not balanced, they are filled sequentially", implying that balanced columns are filled differently, is misleading. Maybe it should be replaced by something like "After the height of the columns is determined, they are filled sequentially"?

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Received on Friday, 24 July 2026 04:39:20 UTC