ReadingOrder

In order not to break content and formal connections, regions on a page are ordered and grouped with a ReadingOrder (reading direction). A ReadingOrder exists exclusively between regions. A ReadingOrder is used to define an order of regions. The reading direction in a line is only determined by the order of the individual Word elements, an explicit marking is not provided.

Defining the reading direction

The definition is pragmatic. That means:

the regions of a page are first to be arranged from left to right (right to left for left-handed fonts)
and from top to bottom, taking into account a column division.
Footnotes, endnotes are usually to be assigned after the regions like paragraphs.
Regions that are outside the print space, such as marginalia, custodes, and sheet signatures, are always to be considered and assigned after the regions such as headings, paragraphs, or footnotes.

Page coding

The ReadingOrder is specified with the <ReadingOrder> element.

If the elements are related (e.g. a heading and the following paragraph), the reading order is of the type "ordered". In this case, the <OrderedGroup> element must be used.
- The reading direction for an "ordered" reading direction is indexed and defined by sequential numbering (starting at zero).
```
<ReadingOrder>
  <OrderedGroup id="ro_1542194237187" caption="Regions reading order">
      <RegionRefIndexed index="0" regionRef="r_1"/>
      <RegionRefIndexed index="1" regionRef="r_2"/>
  </OrderedGroup>
</ReadingOrder>
```
- Example for a ReadingOrder/OrderedGroup
- Figure 1. left side. erasmus_testamenti_1523_0012.xml
- Figure 2. right side. erasmus_testamenti_1523_0013.xml
If the elements are of the same type (e.g. advertising) and can stand alone, the reading direction is of the "unordered" type. In this case, the <UnorderedGroup> element must be used.
- With the "unordered" reading direction, no indexing is used.
```
<ReadingOrder>
  <UnorderedGroup id="ro_1542194237187" caption="Regions reading order">
      <RegionRef regionRef="r_1"/>
      <RegionRef regionRef="r_2"/>
  </UnorderedGroup>
</ReadingOrder>
```
In some cases, a mixture of unordered and ordered is also possible. Within an advertisement section of a newspaper, the individual advertisements are unordered. But within the advertisement it can be assumed that among other things paragraphs, graphics are in ordered relations to each other.
- ```
<ReadingOrder>
	<UnorderedGroup id="ab1">
		<UnorderedGroup id="ug19">
			<OrderedGroup id="og19">
				<OrderedGroupIndexed id="g19" index="0">
					<RegionRefIndexed regionRef="r2" index="0"/>
					<RegionRefIndexed regionRef="r71" index="1"/>
				</OrderedGroupIndexed>
			</OrderedGroup>
		</UnorderedGroup>
		<UnorderedGroup id="ug6">
			<OrderedGroup id="og6">
				<OrderedGroupIndexed id="g6" index="1">
					<RegionRefIndexed regionRef="r4" index="0"/>
					<RegionRefIndexed regionRef="r5" index="1"/>
				</OrderedGroupIndexed>
			</OrderedGroup>
			</UnorderedGroup>
		</UnorderedGroup>
	</ReadingOrder>
```
Figure 3. Mixed form of unordered and ordered reading order. werbung_unordered.xml

image examples

Figure 4. Multiple column sections
Figure 5. Right page with marginalia
Figure 6. Columns with images