Hello Peter,

Thank you for your message, and apologies for the inconvenience.

Based on your description and the screenshots provided, the behavior is related to the Multi Column Direction setting in the blog layout configuration rather than an issue with Helix Ultimate itself.

Currently, your Multi Column Direction is set to “Down.” With 3 columns configured and 4 articles available, Joomla calculates the grid as 3 columns × 2 rows. When the direction is set to Down, items are populated vertically first:

• Article 1 → Row 1, Column 1
• Article 2 → Row 2, Column 1
• Article 3 → Row 1, Column 2
• Article 4 → Row 2, Column 2

This leaves the third column without content, resulting in the uneven layout you’re experiencing.

Recommended Solution

Please change the Multi Column Direction to “Across.”

When set to Across, articles are placed horizontally:

• Article 1 → Row 1, Column 1
• Article 2 → Row 1, Column 2
• Article 3 → Row 1, Column 3
• Article 4 → Row 2, Column 1

This will correctly distribute the items across all three columns and resolve the visual imbalance.

Please note that this behavior is standard in Joomla core blog layouts and is not specific to the Helix Ultimate template.

Kindly test this adjustment and let us know if the layout behaves as expected.

Best regards