# Two mini pages side by side vertically aligned on top

I would like to have two mini pages side by side, vertically aligned on top.

The left hand mini page features a table, the right hand side simple text. Alas, the right mini page is a little lower compared to the left one.

\documentclass{article}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\begin{document}
\begin{minipage}[t]{.5\textwidth}%
%\hrule
\begin{tabular}{rl}
abc & def \\
abc & def \\
\end{tabular}
\end{minipage}%
\begin{minipage}[t]{.5\textwidth}%
%\hrule
abc

def

ghi

jkl
\end{minipage}
\end{document}


If you comment in the two \hrule commands, they are on par. How come? What am I doing wrong?

BTW: if the table only features one line, the mini pages are on par, even without the hrule commands.

## 1 Answer

You need

 \begin{tabular}[t]{rl}


Otherwise the baseline of the first line of the minipage goes through the centre of the tabular.

• Thanks, this helped to have the first line of the table on par with the first line of the right mini page. If I encapsulate each of the two mini pages with fbox{}, the right frame is again a little lower, though the text lines remain on par. What's wrong this time? – Markus Nißl Jun 19 '14 at 12:01
• no idea, fbox should not change the baseline alignment at all. You would have to reduce the width of the minipages (by 2\fboxsep+2\fboxrule) to make space for the rules and padding. Oh add a \strut to your line of text in the left frame to make sure the line has full height – David Carlisle Jun 19 '14 at 12:24