Allow columns inside columns

Problem

There’s no way to use st.columns inside st.columns right now.

E.g. if you do:

col1, col2 = st.columns(2)
with col1:
    subcol1, subcol2 = st.columns(2)

it throws an exception.

Note that this is just an aritificial limitation today. There’s nothing technically preventing columns inside columns. We just limited this to prevent users from creating weird layouts and having them do any kind of layout with columns (just like HTML tables were used in the distant past).

Solution

• Option 1: Just allow columns inside columns. Maybe restrict to one level of nesting and disallow it in the sidebar.
• Option 2: Find another way to create complex layouts, e.g. st.grid.

Additional context

See #5266, where this was proposed by @ZeroCool940711.

Some forum posts mentioning this:

• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/columns-in-a-column/21978/5
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/need-help-with-layout-columns-within-columns/12912
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/create-nested-columns/18807
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/is-there-any-possibility-to-use-st-beta-column-in-st-beta-column/11050
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/new-layout-columns/6280
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/specific-layout-without-nested-columns/22861
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/column-layout/28937
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/how-to-create-layout-merge-two-columns-into-one/26359
• https://discuss.streamlit.io/t/support-for-nested-columns/28810

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[joy13975]

For those who want it anyway despite being intentionally disabled by design:

https://github.com/joy13975/streamlit-nested-layout

If you encounter issues there, please don’t bring them over to the official community.

[steve7734]

Its an easy trap to fall into. step 1) Write some software that allows people to build what they want step 2) Limit the software so they can’t build what they want

One advantage of not limiting stuff, is that you’ll be constantly amazed by the weird and wonderful things people come up with that you didn’t intend! Some of it will indeed be terrible but so what? I can always design terrible stuff, it doesn’t matter what tools you give me or don’t give me, there’s no end to my ingenuity 😄

We are using Streamlit to implement a complex site that contains elements of analytics , project management, CRM and field work applications, its amazing what we’ve been able to do very quickly! Nested columns would be awesome. Give me those nested columns.