[Tex/LaTex] Spacing between items containing a parbox

Question

I would like to make a list, each entry of which has two pieces of information: a date range, and a description. If there are two separate date ranges that apply to an item, I would like to be able to write

\begin{itemize}
  ...
  \item \parbox[t]{5cm}{date range 1\\ date range 2} description
  ...
\end{itemize}

However, the inter-item spacing seems to get thrown off by this; for example, when I compile

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
  \item \parbox[t]{5cm}{test\\test}
  \item test
  \item test
\end{itemize}
\end{document}

what I see is

The spacing between the first and second items is not the same as the spacing between the second and third items.

Is there a way of getting the spacing to be equal? I'd like to avoid if possible using a package like the ones described in this question, since (I think) that would change the spacing in the rest of the list.

Also, I assume that there is a smarter way of creating the kind of list I'm describing than the method I am attempting – any suggestions regarding that are welcome too.

Answer 1

You should end the \parbox with a \strut to give it normal depth ("test" doesn't contain chars with descender). Or use a tabular instead (each line in a tabular has a standard height).

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
  \item \parbox[t]{5cm}{test\\test}
  \item test\\test
  \item test\\test
  \item \parbox[t]{5cm}{test\\test\strut}
  \item test\\test
  \item test\\test
  \item \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}p{5cm}}test\\test\end{tabular}
  \item test\\test
  \item test\\test

\end{itemize}
\end{document}