Vertical alignment of fonts of different sizes on same line

Question

In XeTeX, if I have a line with two font sizes, how can I arrange to have the smaller font aligned to either the center or top of the line?

e.g.

\newfontinstance\biggoth[Color=000000,Scale=5.0]{Cloister Black}
\newfontinstance\smallgoth[Color=000000,Scale=2.0]{Cloister Black}


\biggoth Hello \smallgoth World

The "Hello" aligns to the bottom of the line.

I'm grateful for any thoughts and input.

Answer 1

In general, TeX keeps the baselines of all characters (and boxes) at the same height. For a single word, you can do what chl suggested and raise the text using \raisebox. Rather than guessing at how much to raise it, you can put the word in a box (perhaps with a strut), measure its height, and then raise it appropriately.

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand*\raiseup[1]{%
        \begingroup
        \setbox0\hbox{\tiny\strut #1}%
        \leavevmode
        \raise\dimexpr \ht\strutbox - \ht0\box0
        \endgroup
}
\begin{document}
Here's some text. Here's a raised \raiseup{word}.
\end{document}

Answer 2

Maybe you can just play with \raisebox, e.g.

\biggoth Hello \raisebox{.5ex}{\smallgoth World}

Answer 3

Here is another possibility, very similar to TH.'s suggestion:

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\newfontinstance\biggoth[Color=000000,Scale=5.0]{Cloister Black}
\newfontinstance\smallgoth[Color=000000,Scale=2.0]{Cloister Black}
\newsavebox{\mybox}
\newcommand*{\tlap}[1]{%
  \sbox{\mybox}{#1}%
  \raisebox{-\ht\mybox}{\usebox{\mybox}}%
}
\newcommand*{\mlap}[1]{%
  \sbox{\mybox}{#1}%
  \raisebox{-0.5\ht\mybox}{\usebox{\mybox}}%
}
\begin{document}
\tlap{\biggoth Hello}
\tlap{\smallgoth World}

\mlap{\biggoth Hello}
\mlap{\smallgoth World}
\end{document}