HELP!! :) Wordpress count and divide evenly across columns

Ok so here's the deal..... I want to get posts from a category in Wordpress and divide all posts in that category into 4 vertical columns evenly.

I've tried offsetting posts and putting them into columns but the problem is that this is not efficient and requires tweaking when new posts are added.

<ul>
<li>
<?php
 global $post;
 $theseposts = get_posts('cat=5,-20,-21&order=desc&numberposts=3&offset=3');
 foreach($theseposts as $post) :
   setup_postdata($post); $count++;
 ?><div>
<img src="<?=wp_get_attachment_url(get_post_thumbnail_id());?>" alt="<?=the_title();?>" />
<h3><?=the_title();?></h3><h4><?=the_subtitle();?></h4></div>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</li>
</ul>

Code (markup):

That's what I'm doing now and it's not working out to be a good long term solution.

I would like to

have a <ul> and have posts $count%4 and foreach posts be <div></div> and for each column <li></li> to be evenly set.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

Do you always want a particular post to be in a specific column? If so you will have to record the column selection in the db. Otherwise why cant you just render them in different columns?

 

I shouldn't have to store column location within the database....... .

I am trying to take all posts from a category and split them ( without css ) into 4 columns...

I should be able to count posts and split count like count%4 and loop foreach or while but I can't seem to figure it out.

Right now if posts are added to the category I have to go into the category area and change the number of posts and offsets.... Which I shouldn't have to.

 

$mydata = array( 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8);
$i=0;
foreach($mydata as $data){
if($i==4){ $i = 0; }
$columns[$i][] = $data;
$i++;
}