[Tex/LaTex] Two-column list: different column widths

liststwo-columnwidth

I wish to create a two-column list. One side of the list will contain relatively short items (1-2 short words) and the other side will have longer items (4-5 short-to-long words).

For example:

1. Item 1      4. This is item number 4
2. Item 2      5. This is item number 5
3. Item 3      6. This is item number 6

However, my code (below) using the multicol package causes the widths of both columns to be the same size, causing the left column to have too much room and the right column too little room (i.e. the text spans 2 lines).

How can I adjust the widths of the columns so that the first column is smaller than the right column?

\begin{multicols}{2}
    \begin{enumerate}
        \item Item 1
        \item Item 2
        \item Item 3
        \item This is item number 4
        \item This is item number 5
        \item This is item number 6
    \end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}

Best Answer

A simplistic solution could be to use two minipage environments rather than two columns, e.g.

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
  \begin{minipage}{0.3\linewidth}   
    \item Item 1
    \item Item 2
    \item Item 3
  \end{minipage}
  \begin{minipage}{0.6\linewidth}
    \item This is item number 4
    \item This is item number 5
    \item This is item number 6       
  \end{minipage}
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

You may also want to look at How can I create a two-column layout with different widths (and texts) for the two columns?

Related Question