PHP will allow you to format the display of data in any format that you can think of.
Remember that you are taking data out of an array and placing it into holders, usually columnar but they can be a horizontal series
[d1 d2, d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d8 d9]
just as easily.
Or a set of columns in a set of rows
[d1 d2 d3
d4 d5 d6
d7 d8 d9]
Using CSS they could be wandering independantly around the screen, or following the mouse. The actual placement is limited only by your imagination.