The rule that ensures vertical centering:
.mw-hiero-table td { vertical-align: middle; }
...is overridden when hieros are embedded in another table, such as infobox, which have their own vertical-align set. This is because rules set in Common.css override those in extension CSS (by being loaded later. A simple fix is to add specificallity, thus the rule should be changed to:
table.mw-hiero-table td { vertical-align: middle; }
This ensures that blanket CSS rules (classes not attached to elements) do not override the extensions' CSS.
QA
- Add following rule to MediaWiki:Common.css
.infobox td { vertical-align: top; }
- Go to page with hieroglyphics in table e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%A8%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%A1%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%9A%E0%B3%8D_%E0%B2%95%E0%B3%8A%E0%B2%82%E0%B2%95%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%A3%E0%B3%8A/sandbox&oldid=1136009056
Expected:
They should be vertically center aligned.