# How to overlap two adjacent edges of 2 framed minipages placed side by side?

How to overlap the adjacent edges? In other words, the adjacent edges should be combined into one edge shared between to minipages such that all rules will have the same thickness.

\documentclass[10pt,dvipsnames,dvips,cmyk]{article}
\usepackage[a5paper,margin=10mm,showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum,calc,xcolor}
\setlength{\fboxrule}{2mm}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{2mm}
\begin{document}\noindent{\color{red}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth-2\fboxrule-2\fboxsep}
\color{blue}\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth-2\fboxrule-2\fboxsep}
\color{blue}\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}}}
\end{document}


EDIT 1:

Assume using table is prohibited by the game rule.

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Didn't I advise you not to give answers in questions? Please remove the answer from the question and post it as an answer. And please keep this in mind! :-) –  Hendrik Vogt Dec 28 '10 at 13:28
@Hendrik, but I want to give Herbert a Green Check mark. –  xport Dec 28 '10 at 13:30
Doesn't matter; please keep questions questions. Herbert won't mind, I guess. Please have a look here for more thoughts on this matter. –  Hendrik Vogt Dec 28 '10 at 13:34

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a5paper,margin=10mm,showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum,calc,xcolor}
\setlength{\fboxrule}{2mm}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{2mm}
\begin{document}\noindent{\color{red}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth-2\fboxrule-2\fboxsep}
\color{blue}\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}}\hspace{-\fboxrule}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth-\fboxrule-2\fboxsep}
\color{blue}\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}}}
\end{document}


a tabular will do the same ...

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thanks for the solution. But I think you did a small miscalculation for the minipages. The minipages should have a width of 0.5\textwidth-1.5\fboxrule-2\fboxsep rather than 0.5\textwidth-\fboxrule-2\fboxsep, right? –  xport Dec 26 '10 at 8:20
Rather than 0.5\textwidth-2\fboxrule-2\fboxsep as well. –  xport Dec 26 '10 at 8:26
depends of what you like to have. I didn't touch the settings of the first minipage, the resaon why I used 0.5\textwidth-\fboxrule-2\fboxsep –  Herbert Dec 26 '10 at 8:58
OK. Thank you. –  xport Dec 26 '10 at 9:11
Sorry. I should move the green check mark to my own answer because of the site rule explained by @Hendrik above. –  xport Dec 28 '10 at 13:38

This is the final solution based on Herbert's answer with a bit adjustment.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a4paper,margin=10mm,showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum,calc,xcolor}
\setlength{\fboxrule}{2mm}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{2mm}
\begin{document}\noindent{\color{red}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth-1.5\fboxrule-2\fboxsep}
\color{blue}\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}}\hspace{-\fboxrule}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth-1.5\fboxrule-2\fboxsep}
\color{blue}\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}}}
\end{document}


This is the final solution based on @Herbert's solution. I made a small correction in his calculation.

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