PDF reading order
Each PDF document should read in a sensible order when experienced linearly, from start to finish. Silktide cannot judge this automatically, so this check asks you to verify it yourself.
A PDF's visual layout and its are separate things. The layout places content on the page; the reading order lives in the document's accessibility structure (see PDF structure tags) and determines the sequence a follows. In documents with columns, sidebars, captions, or pull quotes, the two can easily disagree.
Why this matters
Someone listening to a document experiences only its reading order. When that order is wrong, columns get interleaved into nonsense, a sidebar interrupts mid-sentence, or a caption arrives pages away from its figure. All the content is present, but the document no longer makes sense - and the author has no idea, because the document looks perfect.
How to fix it
This is a manual review. To verify a document:
- Open the document in a PDF editor such as Adobe Acrobat Pro and step through the tags or reading order panel, checking the sequence matches the visual flow. Alternatively, read the document with a screen reader.
- If the order is wrong, correct it in the editor's reading order tools, keeping related content together: captions with their figures, headers with their tables, and columns read one at a time.
- Better still, fix the source document - authoring tools that export generally produce the right order when the source is structured properly.
Once you have verified the document, mark the review as complete.
How Silktide tests this
Silktide cannot determine automatically whether a PDF's reading order matches its meaning, so this check raises one review item per PDF document for you to confirm manually.