When examining the map structure (chapter 9 “Map structure”) it was noted that a map consists of layers and elements of the upper level of the map can hide elements of lower layers in map display. There is no notion of a layer for a layout, every layout element is “the layer for itself”, that is, all elements are located in a certain vertical order from the lowest element to the upper one. The lowest elements can be fully or partially hidden by upper ones. Convenient selection of the vertical order of elements allows the user to place inscriptions above the drawings, mark individual points and regions of a theme by arrows and so on.
Vertical order of elements is determined mostly by the order in which they were added to the layout. Each new element automatically becomes the upper element of the layout.
Often terms “front element/back element” are used instead of “upper element/lower element”. The meaning of these expressions is the same, choice of the term is the case of taste in this situation.
There are several commands of menu Element intended for changing vertical order of elements. These commands are also duplicated by the buttons of standard toolbar. To use commands of changing vertical order the corresponding elements should be selected first.
The command Element+Bring to Front (the button 
) makes the selected element the upper element of the layout (using other terminology – it transfers the element to the foreground). If several elements are selected, they are all located above the remaining layout elements but the relative order of selected elements remains unchanged.
The command Element+Send to Back (the button 
) makes the selected element the lowest element of the layout (that is, an element of the background). If several elements are selected, they are all placed below the remaining elements of the layout but the relative order of selected elements remains unchanged.
The command Element+Move Forward (the button 
) moves the selected element one step up (forward) with respect to other elements of the layout. If several elements are selected, each of them is moved one step up.
The command Element+Move Backward (the button 
) moves the selected element one step downwards (backward) with respect to the remaining elements of the layout. If several elements are selected, each of them is moved one step downwards.
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