In a two-sided scrbook, I'm attempting to spread a series of many broad figures along with their explanations over two facing pages, as shown in the sketch below:
Between the numbers 5 and 6, I highlighted the simple thing: To separate the items on both pages, I currently use a \rule that has the \textwidth as width. However, the left and right page items belong together, so I would like to have the rules extend into the inner margins (all up to the page border), so that they appear as one line when printed rather than two lines on the same height.
For an even page, I could just add something to the width of my rule, say \rule{\dimexpr\textwidth+\innermarginwidth}{0.5pt} to achieve this. But on odd pages, how can the line be extended into the "negative" direction? If length is added, the rule will just go into the outer margin. Also, hacky as this approach seems, I wonder if there is a more elegant solution.
Consider this MWE, where \rowrule is the command in question. A case switch for odd/even pages is not a problem, since I could use \Ifthispageodd. It is more of a conceptual question on how to expand a rule into the inner margins.
\documentclass[twoside, DIV=11]{scrbook}
\usepackage{dpfloat}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\newcommand{\rowcontent}[1]{%
\begin{tabular}{>{\raggedleft\sffamily\bfseries\arraybackslash}p{10mm}l}
Nr.~#1 & \raisebox{-.4\height}{\rule{.4\textwidth}{25mm}\quad\rule{.4\textwidth}{25mm}}
\end{tabular}}
\newcommand{\rowrule}{\begin{center}\rule{\textwidth}{.5pt}\end{center}}
\newcommand{\explanation}[1]{%
\vphantom{\rowcontent{#1}}%
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
Explanatory text for nr.~#1.
\end{minipage}%
}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1-1]
\begin{leftfullpage}
\noindent%
\rowcontent{1}
\rowrule
\rowcontent{2}
\rowrule
\rowcontent{3}
\end{leftfullpage}
\begin{fullpage}
\noindent%
\explanation{1}
\rowrule
\explanation{2}
\rowrule
\explanation{3}
\end{fullpage}
\end{document}
Update 2023-01-23: Werner's excellent approach resulted in a mismatch of the corresponding heights: On the right side, each item received more space than on the left. I narrowed down the problem to the use of \hspace*{\linewidth} in \resetleftrightblocksep. To resolve the issue, I combined both answers and now use the following, respectively:
\resetleftrightblocksep{\unskip\begin{flushright}\rule{0pt}{0pt}\llap{\rule{\paperwidth}{.5pt}}\end{flushright}}
\resetleftrightblocksep{\unskip\begin{flushleft}\rule{0pt}{0pt}\rlap{\rule{\paperwidth}{.5pt}}\end{flushleft}}



\rules as placeholders? – Werner Jan 17 '23 at 21:31\includegraphics. – hschmauder Jan 17 '23 at 22:23