CSS Display:inline-block | 3 columns | No floats

Question

I am trying to get a 3 column design, with out using any floats.

HTML

<header>This is a Header</header>
<div id="body">
    <div id="col-1" class="col">this is a column - this is a column - this is a column - this is a column</div>
    <div id="col-2" class="col">this is a column - this is a column - this is a column - this is a column</div>
    <div id="col-3" class="col">this is a column - this is a column - this is a column - this is a column</div>
</div>

CSS

    * {
        margin:0;
        padding:0;
    }
    header {
        background:#4679BD;
        width:90%;
        height:70px;
        line-height:70px;
        font-size:20px;
        text-align:center;
        border:1px solid #333;
        margin:10px auto;
    }
    #body {
        width:700px;
        margin:auto;
        border:1px solid #333;
    }
    #body .col {
        display:inline-block;
        background:#ccc;
        height:500px;
        border:1px solid #333;
        margin:5px;
    }
    #body #col-1 {
        width:100px;
    }
    #body #col-2 {
        width:200px;
    }
    #body #col-3 {


   width:350px;
}

http://jsfiddle.net/chaos67731/fmZpr/5/

When I give the columns a width on the class ".col" the all stay to the top, but when I give each column a width by the ID and make them different, they step does as you will see in the link above.

What is a fix for this and why does it happen?

Answer 1

By default, inline-block element's vertical alignment is baseline .

Simply set vertical-align:top on the .col .

#body .col {
    vertical-align: top;
}

Working jsFiddle here

Answer 2

use this

{
    vertical-align: top;
}