How to display list items as columns?

Question

I'm trying to build my first responsive layout. I want to display list items in a vertical line, depending on width.

<div style="height:800px;">
    <ul>
       <li>1</li>
       <li>2</li>
       <li>3</li>
       <li>4</li>
       <li>5</li>
       <li>6</li>
       <li>7</li>
    </ul>
</div>

1   5
2   6
3   7
4

If the browser gets resized, I want it to become

1  4  7
2  5
3  6

Can someone help me? I've been trying for hours and I can't get anything. I've tried using tables but I can't do it like that either.

Answer 1

This can be done using CSS3 columns quite easily. Here's an example, HTML:

#limheight {
    height: 300px; /*your fixed height*/
    -webkit-column-count: 3;
       -moz-column-count: 3;
            column-count: 3; /*3 in those rules is just placeholder -- can be anything*/
}

#limheight li {
    display: inline-block; /*necessary*/
}

<ul id = "limheight">
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 1</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 2</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 3</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 4</a></li>    
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 5</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 6</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 7</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 8</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 9</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 10</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 11</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 12</a></li>    
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 13</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 14</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 15</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 16</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 17</a></li>    
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 18</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 19</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Glee is awesome 20</a></li>
</ul>