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### Choosing the Orientation and Number of Rows or Columns

There are three options that controls the layout of the items in the TixTList widget. The `-orientation` option can be set to either vertical or horizontal. When `-orientation` is set to `vertical`, the items are laid out vertically from top down and wrapped to the next column when the bottom is reached (see figure 3-6). The opposite layout policy is chosen if `-orientation` is set to `horizontal` (see figure 3-6).

When the `-orientation` option is set to `vertical`, normally the number of columns displayed depends on the number of items in the TixTList widget: the more items there are, the more columns will there be. However, we can use the `-columns` option to control the number of columns: the items will be wrapped in a way so that the number of columns produced will be exactly as dicated by the `-columns` option.

One use of the `-columns` option is to specify the same layout policy as that of the standard Tk listbox widget. We can do this by setting `-orientation` to vertical and `-columns` to `1`. This way we can get a replacement listbox widget that can display multiple fonts and colors and graphics!

The counterpart of the `-columns` option is the `-rows` option, which is used for the same purpose when the `-orientation` option is set to `horizontal`.

> (Figure 3-6) The `-orientation` option of the TixSelect Widget