Why does \color change vertical alignement in table with fixed width?

Question

I'm wondering why the \color command changes the vertical alignement in fixed-width tables.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{l | l}
    \hline
    \color{red} why is this & aligned with this? \
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\vspace{1cm}


\begin{tabular}{p{0.3\textwidth} | p{0.3\textwidth}}
    \hline
    \color{red} but this & not aligned with this? \
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

EDIT: and of course the follow-up: is there an easy way to fix this?

Color changes cell height in tabular seems to be closely related (duplicate?). The following answer may also be interesting: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/171903/134144 — leandriis, May 29 '21 at 21:50
every other week for last 25+ years I make the same comment: see footnote on page 6 of texdoc grfguide which says basically: it's not my fault — David Carlisle, May 29 '21 at 21:50
your second image does show the same alignment as the first. In both cases the top item of the cell box is aligned on the baseline of the row. In the first case the top item in the first column is a line of text, in the second one it is a whatsit node for the colour. If you warp your expectations to match those of TeX, you will see that this is the expected behaviour. — David Carlisle, May 29 '21 at 21:53
Thank you @DavidCarlisle for your insights. Noone is pointing fingers, we're just trying to understand what's happening. — Kalissar, May 29 '21 at 22:10

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 29 '21 at 21:35

4

My suggestion it is to use a correct syntax \textcolor{red}{but this} instead of \color{red} but this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{l | l}
    \hline
    why is this & aligned with this? \
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\vspace{1cm}


\begin{tabular}{p{0.3\textwidth} | p{0.3\textwidth}}
    \hline
    \textcolor{red}{but this} & not aligned with this? \
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

answered May 29 '21 at 21:35

Sebastiano

54,118

1

Ah, you answered the follow-up question before it was even posted o/ – Kalissar May 29 '21 at 21:37
@Kalissar One day very far away I too will be like the lightning...ahahahahh. – Sebastiano May 29 '21 at 21:38
This works perfectly, thanks. I'll still wait a bit before accepting to have an opportunity to get the answer to why it behaves like this – Kalissar May 29 '21 at 21:39
@Kalissar Certainly. I am not good at detailed explanations. – Sebastiano May 29 '21 at 21:40

Why does \color change vertical alignement in table with fixed width?

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