the column setting doesn't seem to be working in topics mode for the source or the main page

you'll have to describe the problem in more detail for us to be able to fix it.

maybe provide a link as well?

currently, column setting works for our Stanford topic here: http://www.diffbot.com/topic/Stanford

yesterday when i had my source setting set to column, the column was in the middle and it displayed pictures. today it is on the left side of the screen and there are no images.

column view currently displays a summary of items from multiple sources.

the view you are talking about (in the middle displaying pictures) is feed view. this displays every item (NOT a summary) and is usually best when looking at one source.