Category columns in wordpress

I need to make my category into 3 columns. I found this code but it does not work in version 2.8. Can anyone help me with it please.

<?php
$cats = explode("<br />",wp_list_categories('show_count=1&child_of='.$cat.'&hide_empty=0&title_li='));
$cat_n = count($cats) - 1;
for ($i=2;$i<$cat_n;$i++):
if ($i<$cat_n/2):
$cat_left = $cat_left.'<li>'.$cats[$i].'</li>';
elseif ($i>=$cat_n/2):
$cat_right = $cat_right.'<li>'.$cats[$i].'</li>';
endif;
endfor;
?>
<ul class="left">
<?php echo $cat_left;?>
</ul>
<ul class="right">
<?php echo $cat_right;?>
</ul>

Here is the CSS part.

#right {float:left; width:140px;}
#left {float:left; width:140px;}

Any help would be useful. Thank you.

 

Would the Article Directory theme be an option? It automatically makes 3 column categories display

http://articlesss.com/article-directory-wordpress-theme/

 

That is the theme I need it for. I would like the category pages to have 3 columns instead of one.
Please can anyone take a look at the code for me. I have been at this all weekend with no good results.