Making section headers break two column flow

Question

I'm new to LaTeX and I'm writing a document for which I'm using \documentclass[twocolumn]{article}. Is it possible to make \section headers break the two column flow? To clarify, I'd like a long section title to continue into the space normally occupied by the second column, and the two-column flow would continue below the \section header.

I think I've read about doing this with minipages, but I'd rather not complicate the markup in-line. A preamble solution would be vastly preferable.

Answer 1

I use the multicol package for this purpose and not the twocolumn option.

In your preamble:

\usepackage{multicol}
\setlength{\columnsep}{1.5cm}
\setlength{\columnseprule}{0.1pt}

And in the document:

\section{Long section name}
\begin{multicols}{2}
Your very long text
\end{multicols}

\section{Another long section name}
\begin{multicols}{2}
Your very long text
\end{multicols}

For details on the multicol package and all those customizing options, see http://www.tex.ac.uk/ctan/macros/latex/required/tools/multicol.pdf

You could also use the multicol for having 3 (or even more) columns:

\begin{multicols}{3}
This goes in three columns
\end{multicols}

\begin{multicols}{5}
This goes in five columns
\end{multicols}