A LaTeX Beamer two-column frame template with proper vertical spacing

01 Feb 2016

I made a LaTex Beamer template for creating presentations in a two-column format. I use this style to have figures on the right and text on the left. Here's the presentation the template produces:

Vertical spacing and overlays can be tricky when working in columns. First, to allow for convenient spacing via \vfill, a minipage has to be included in the text-column.

In the figure column, you might want figures to vertically centered (single image) or aligned from the top (multiple images, overlay). Both can be achieved by including either a \parbox or \minipage. The full frame producing the presentation above is:

\begin{frame}{A Frame with two Columns}
  % 
  \begin{columns}
    %
    \begin{column}{.45\textwidth}
      \minipage[c][0.65\textheight][s]{\columnwidth}
      \vspace{0.05\textheight}

      On the left side text, figures on the right.

      \vfill

      \onslide<2->

      Start with basic figures, add more information later

      \vfill

      \onslide<3->

      Use \texttt{\textbackslash vfill} for the text 
      column but not for figures.

      \vfill
      \onslide<4->
      \begin{tabular}{|p{0.9\textwidth}}
        Use \texttt{minipage} for top aligned images, and
        \texttt{parbox} for vertically centered images.
      \end{tabular}


      \endminipage      
    \end{column}
    %
    \begin{column}{.55\textwidth}

      % for top aligned images use minipage
      \only<1-3>{
        \minipage[c][0.8\textheight][s]{\columnwidth}

        \onslide<1->    

        \only<1-3>{
          \begin{figure}
            \centering
            \includegraphics<1>[width=\textwidth]{%
              img/figure1.png} %
            \includegraphics<2-3>[width=\textwidth]{%
              img/figure1_red.png} %
        \end{figure}}

        \only<3>{
          \begin{figure}
            \centering
            \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{%
              img/figure2.png} %
        \end{figure}}

        \endminipage
      }   

      % for vertically centered images use parbox
      \only<4>{
        \parbox[c][0.8\textheight][c]{\columnwidth}{
          \begin{figure}
            \centering
            \includegraphics[height=0.5\textheight]{%
              img/figure4.png} %
          \end{figure}
        }
      }

    \end{column}
  \end{columns}

\end{frame}

Check out the GitHub repository for the full .tex files.