|
||
|
A
[back to top]
Acetate - a transparent sheet placed over artwork where the artist writes instructions or indicates where second color is to be placed. Also known as Overlay. (also see amberlith) Airbrush - a tool used in illustration design and photographic retouching. Produces an adjustable spray of paint driven by compressed air. Align - to line up typeset or other graphic material, using a base or vertical line as the reference point. Amberlith - amberlith area appears black to the camera, and prints clear on the resulting film, red-orange acetate is used for masking mechanicals to be photographed for plates. Ampersand - (&) - a character used instead of the word "and". Art - in graphic arts industry, all matter other than text material, e.g. illustrations and photographs. Ascender - any part of a lower case letter extending above the x-height. For example, the upper half of the vertical in the letters b or h. (see also Descender) Attachment - a computer file that is appended to an electric mail message. Automatic hyphenation - when software application decides where to break or hyphenate a word. Automatic pagination - to let the computer automatically divide a multi-page document into pages of a specific length. B [back to top] Backing up - to print the second side of the printed sheet. Bad break - any page or column that results in a widow, orphan, an incorrectly hyphenated word or the break to another line of two words that should stay together. Balloon - a circle or bubble used in cartoons that encloses copy in an illustration. Banding - This occurs in gradations when a screen percent change that is too small is made over an area that is too large. Banner - a headline or title extending across the full page width. Bar code - A pattern of vertical bars and spaces representing characters that is readable with a scanner. Baseline - the line on which the bases of capital letters sit. Baseline-to-baseline - the distance from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the following line, usually measured in points. Also known as leading. Bezier curve - a mathematical function capable of generating curves suitable for outlining graphic forms or characters of any typeface, style or size. Bit map (.bmp file) - a dot-by-dot description of an electronic image. Bit map graphics - graphics created by controlling individual pixels on a display screen that can be reproduced as a printed image. The quality of bit mapped graphics is not as good as other available formats. Bit map font - a type of font in which the characters are represented by bit maps. While reproducible on paper, bit mapped fonts are not of the same quality as higher resolution fonts. Bleed \ layout - type or pictures that extend beyond the trim marks on a page. Illustrations that spread to the edge of the paper without margins are referred to as 'bled off'. Blind emboss - a raised impression made without using ink or foil. Blow up - an enlargement of a graphic image or photograph. Blueline - a proof made directly from the press negative onto photo-sensitive paper showing the printed piece exactly as it will appear. Body - the main text of the work. Does not include headlines and captions. Boilerplate - stored paragraphs or documents that may be combined or recalled to create a new document. Bold type - type with a heavier darker appearance. Border - a decorative design or rule surrounding an element on the page. Box - a section of text marked off by rules or white space and presented separately from the main text and illustrations. Longer boxed sections are sometimes referred to as sidebars. Bullet - a large dot preceding text to add emphasis. C [back to top] CAD - Computer Aided Design. Software used in engineering and manufacturing applications to create and modify technical drawings. Caliper - the thickness of the sheet of paper or board expressed in microns. Also the name of the tool used to make the measurement. Callout - text that identifies element of an illustration or any material such as a "pull quote" that is called out of the text. Camera ready - artwork or pasted up material that is ready for reproduction. Cap line - an imaginary line across the top of capital letters. The distance from the cap line to the baseline is the cap size. Caps - an abbreviation for capital letters. Caps and small caps - a style of type that shows capital letters used in the normal way while the body copy is set in capital letters which are of a slightly smaller size. Caption - the line or lines of text that refer to information identifying a picture or illustration. Carbonless - paper coated with chemicals which will produce copies without carbon paper. Also referred to as NCR (No Carbon Required). Carriage return - the act of returning to the beginning of a line. Character count - the number of letters, figures, signs or spaces in a piece of copy, line or paragraph. Used to calculate the length of headlines and the amount of body copy. Cicero - a unit of measure. One cicero is 4,511 mm or 0.178 inches or 12 didot points. Clipboard - a temporary storage area used for copying and storing data on a computer. 
CMYK -The four colors in the four color process: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.Coated - paper with a clay surface coating that has a smoother, more even finish with greater opacity. Collate - to put together in the correct order for binding. Color separations - A division of a multi-colored original or line copy into (CMYK) the primary process colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Color matching - technology that produces color images on a laser printer identical to those produced by a press. Column inch - a measure of area used in newspapers and magazines to calculate the cost of display advertising. A column inch is one column wide by one column deep. Column rule - a light faced vertical rule used to separate columns of type. Communication protocol - the exchange of a special sequence of control characters between two computers so information can be transferred correctly. Comp - term for a detail full-sized mock-up made of a document. Composition - the process of setting type and arranging it on the page. Continuous tone - an image in which the subject has continuous shades of color or gray without being broken up by dots. Continuous tones cannot be reproduced in that form for printing but must be screened to translate the image into dots. Contract Proof - A color proof representing an agreement between the printer and the customer regarding how the printed product will look. Contrast - the degree of tones in a paragraph ranging from highlight to shadow. [back to top] Conversion Tables Inches Fractions Decimals Millimeters:  Points, picas, inches, millimeters  Copyright - the right of copyright gives protection to the creator of material to prevent use without express permission or acknowledgment of the creator. Corner marks - marks printed on a sheet to indicate the trim or register marks. Cropping - the elimination of parts of a photograph or other original that are not required to be printed. Crop marks - lines printed on the page to show where the page will be trimmed. CRT - Cathode-ray tube or another word for a computer monitor. CTP - computer-to-plate. Cursor - the flashing marker on a monitor screen that indicates where in the document you are working. Cursive - used to describe typefaces that resemble written script. Cut and paste - the act of moving blocks of text from one place to another in a document. Cut-sheet - paper cut into standard sizes ready for use with a copier or press. Cutline - another term for caption. Cutout - a halftone where the background has been removed to produce a silhouette. Cyan - one of the four colors used in printing. A shade of greenish-blue. D [back to top] Dash - a short horizontal rule used for punctuation. Density - the darkness of type. Descender - any part of a lower case letter that extends below the x-height, as in the case of y and j. Die - a hardened steel engraving stamp used to print an inked image. Used in the production of good quality letter headings. Digital - information represented by a binary code. Also refers to any task or action that uses a transportable computer file. Dingbats - special characters used to design elements. Display type - larger type used for headings, etc. Normally about 18 point or larger. Dithering - the creation of additional colors and shades from an existing palette by interspersing pixels of different colors. Dot - a unit of measurement. Also referred to as a pixel, spot or pel. Dot gain - the enlargement of halftone tones on the press resulting in a loss of detail in the image. Dot matrix printer - a printer in which each character is formed from a matrix of dots. Double density - a method of recording on floppy disks using a modified frequency modulation process that allows more data to be stored on a disk. Download - the process of receiving a file from another source or to send a font to the memory of a printer. Downloadable fonts - type faces which can be stored on a disk and then downloaded to the printer when required for printing. DPI (Dots Per Inch) - the measurement of resolution for page printers, phototypesetting machines and graphics screens. Currently graphics screens reproduce 60 to 100 dpi. The current standard for laser printers is 600 dpi. Imagesetters usually operated at a much higher dpi. Draw-Down - An off press method of showing spot ink color on the actual paper to be used. Drop cap - a large initial letter at the start of the text that drops into the line or lines of text below. Dry transfer (lettering) - characters, drawings, etc., that can be transferred to the artwork by rubbing them off the back of the transfer sheet. Dummy - a mock layout of a document. E [back to top] Em - a printing measurement. It is a square unit with edges equal in size to the chosen point size. It gets its name from the letter M which originally was as wide as the type size. Em dash - a dash used in punctuation the length of one em. Embossing - relief images formed by using a recessed die. En dash - a dash approximately half the width of an em dash. En - a unit of measurement that is half as wide as an em. EPS - encapsulated postscript file. A file format used to transfer graphic images within compatible applications. Extension - the last three characters of a file name, proceeded by a period, that identifies the file format (For example: .bmp, .gif, .jpg). F [back to top] Face - an abbreviation for typeface referring to a family in a given style. Filler - extra material used to complete a column or page, usually of little importance. Finishing - the bindery process performed after the document has been copied or printed. Flag - the designed title of a newspaper as it appears at the top of page one, often confused with masthead. Flush left - copy aligned along the left margin. Flush right - copy aligned along the right margin. Font - a complete set of characters in a typeface. Footer - a design element printed at the bottom of a page of text. File Format - the layout specifications of a document. Also refers to how the computer file was saved. (see file formats PDF) [back to top] Four color process - printing in full color using four color separation negatives- yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. FTP - File Transfer Protocol. An application protocol used for transferring files on the Internet. Full bleed - an illustration that reaches the edge of the page on all four sides. Full color printing - another term for process color printing. Function key - a key on the computer which activates a particular machine function. G [back to top] Galley proof - proofs taken from the galleys before being made up into pages. Galleys - the printing term for long metal trays used to hold type after it had been set and before the press run. Ghost / Ghosting - When too much ink is printed in one area, effecting the ink density of another area. Grade - the quality of paper. Grain - grain can refer to several printing and computer topics. It can be the visual texture in a negative, print or transparency; refer to the size of the smallest features that can be recording on film; or refer to the direction in which the fibers in paper line up and affect the folding, bending and cutting. Gray scale - a series of shades from white to black. Greeking - a software device where areas of gray are used to simulate lines of text. Grid - a systematic division of a page into areas as a measuring guide and show text, illustrations and trim sizes. Gripper Edge - the leading edge of paper as it passes through a printing press. This area needs to be blank, usually ½" or less. Gutter - the central blank area between left and right pages. H [back to top] H & J - hyphenation and justification. Hairline rule - the thinnest rule that can be printed. Hairlines - the thinnest of the strokes in a typeface. Halftone - an illustration reproduced by breaking down the original tone into a pattern of dots of varying size. Light areas have small dots and darker areas or shadows have larger dots. Halftone screen - technique used to create the dots on a photograph so it can be printed. The number of lines to the inch controls the coarseness of the final dot formation. The higher the quality the more lines can be used. Hanging indent - type set where the first lines meet the left margin and the succeeding lines are indented at a fixed distance from the left margin. Hard Copy - output in a permanent, readable form. Head - the margin at the top of the page. Head-to-head - printing on both sides of a sheet where the top of each page is placed at the same end. Head-to-foot - printing on both sides of a sheet where the top of each page is placed at the opposite ends. Header - the printed material at the top of each page. Hickies - a dust particle sticking to the printing plate or blanket which appears on the printed sheet as a dark spot surrounded by a halo. Highlight - the lightest area in a photograph or illustration. Highlight color - another term for spot color. Hinting - the set of rules built into computer fonts to control spacing. I [back to top] Icons - pictures on the computer screen that represent documents, folders and applications. Clicking on the icon with a mouse or pointer will activate the file. Impression - the image produced in a single operation on a printer, copier or press. Imposition - the arrangement of pages on a printed sheet, which when the sheet is finally printed on both sides, folded and trimmed, will place the pages in their correct order. Imprinting - the printing of additional information on an already printed piece. Initial cap - a capital letter that is larger than the surrounding text. Also called a drop cap. Ink jet - a type of computer printer that sprays a liquid ink onto the paper using a dot matrix pattern. Italic - type with sloping letters. J [back to top] Jaggies - See: Pixellation Jog - the procedure that aligns all sheets of paper to form an even stack. left - the alignment of text along a margin or both margins. This is achieved by adjusting the spacing between the words and characters as necessary so that each line of text finishes at the same point. K [back to top] Kerning - the adjustment of spacing between certain letter pairs to obtain a more pleasing appearance. Kern pair - a specific letter combination that has been kerned for better appearance. Keyline - an outline drawn or set on artwork showing the size and position of an illustration or halftone. L [back to top] Ladder - a succession of lines all ending with a hyphen. Laid - paper with a watermark pattern showing the wire marks used in the paper making process. Usually used for high quality stationery. Laminate - a thin transparent plastic coating applied to paper or board to provide protection and give it a glossy finish. Landscape - positioning an image on a page where the width used is greater than the height. Laser printer - a high quality image printing system using a laser beam to produce an image on a photosensitive drum. The image is transferred on to paper by a conventional xerographic printing process. Most laser printers offer 600 dpi resolution. Layout - a sketch of a page for printing showing the position of text and illustrations and giving general instructions. Lead or Leading - space added between lines of type to space out text and provide visual separation of the lines. Named after the strips of lead which used to be inserted between lines of metal type. Legal size - U.S. paper measure of 8 ½ by 14 inches. Ligature - letters which are joined together as a single unit of type such as oe and fi. Lightface - type having finer strokes than the medium typeface. Not used as frequently as medium. Line art - pictures that use no halftones or shades of gray. Line gauge - a metal rule used by printers, divided into Picas it is 72 picas long. Line measure - the width of a line of type. Same as line length. Line screen - a transparent screen used to convert a picture or photograph into a halftone. Logo - short for logotype. Often used to denote a specially styled company name designed as part of a corporate image. Lower case - the small letters in a font of type. Lpi - lines per inch. M [back to top] Magenta - one of the primary colors in full color printing. A shade of bluish-red. Also known as process red. Magnetic ink - a magnetized ink that can be read by electronic machines. Used in check printing. Make-up - the assembling of all elements, to form the printed image. Making ready - the time spent in making ready the level of the printing surface by packing out under the form or around the impression cylinder. Margins - the non-printing areas of page. Mark-up - copy prepared for a compositor setting out in detail all the typesetting instructions. Mask - opaque material or masking tape used to block-off an area of the artwork. Masthead - details of publisher and editorial staff usually printed on the contents page. Measure - denotes the width of a setting expressed in pica ems. Metallic ink - printing inks which produce an effect of gold, silver, bronze or metallic colors. Mock-up - the rough visual of a publication or design. Moire pattern - the result of superimposing half-tone screens at the wrong angle thereby giving a checkered effect on the printed halftone. Montage - a single image formed from the assembling of several images. Mouse - a computer pointing device used to select and point on a computer screen. N [back to top] Native application file - refers to a file that was created by a particular application and can be opened and edited by another copy of the application. Negative - a photographic image which reverses the black and white values. It is the result of photographing camera art on a process camera and is part of the platemaking process. O [back to top] OCR (Optical Character Recognition) - a procedure which allows a scanner to convert a preprinted image into text that can be edited and formatted on a computer. On demand - printing output only when it is needed. Opacity - term used to describe the degree to which paper will show print through. Optical Centre - a point above the true centre of the page. Optical disks - another type of media for file storage. Orphan - line of type on its own at the top or bottom of a page. Outline font - a printer font where each character is described mathematically. Output - a term when used as a noun refers to the information printed on paper and as a verb to information transmitted from the computer to a printer. Output device - another term for printer. Overlay - a transparent sheet used in the preparation of multi-color artwork showing the color breakdown and designer instructions. Overprinting - printing over an area already printed. Used to emphasize changes or alterations. P [back to top] Page Description Language (PDL) - a special form of programming language which enables both text and graphics (object or bit-image) to be described in a series of mathematical statements. Page proofs - the stage following galley proofs, in which pages are made up and paginated. Pagination - the process of breaking blocks of text into pages. Palette - the set of colors available in as application. Pantone - a registered name for an ink color matching system. Paper plate - a short run offset printing plate on which matter can be typed directly. Paste up - the various elements of a layout mounted in position to form camera-ready artwork. Path - the route or directions through directories and sub-directories that locates where a file or application is stored in a computer. Perfect binding - a method of binding paperback books. [back to top] Pica - a printing industry unit of measurement. There are 12 points to a pica, one pica is approximately 0.166 inch.(see conversion tables ) PICT - a graphic format for the Macintosh. Picking - the effect of ink being too tacky and lifting fibers out of the paper. Shows up as small white dots on areas of color. Pixel - the smallest unit of a digitized picture on a computer screen or printed. Pixellation - a term used to describe the stair-stepped (or "blocky") appearance of bit mapped images. Plate - a metal or light-sensitive paper sheet that holds the image that is to be printed. Point - the standard unit of type size of which there are 72 to the inch (one point is approximately 0.011383 inch).(see conversion tables ) Port - A channel through which data leaves and enters a computer, i.e. a printer or communication port. Portrait - an upright image or page where the height is greater than the width. Positive - a true photographic image of the original made on paper or film. Postscript - a page description language developed by Adobe Systems. The code tells the printer where to place the graphics and text on a page. The computer code is considered the standard PDL for the graphic arts industry. Preflight - to review a computer file to assure all elements are included and that it will print properly to an output device. Prepress - the steps leading to the actual printing or copying process. Primary colors - cyan, magenta, and yellow. These three colors when mixed together with black will produce a reasonable reproduction of all other colors. Printer font - the font file containing the information used to form the font on the printer. One of two files that make up a Postscript or Type 1 font (printer font and screen font). Print-on-demand - printing what you want, when you want, where you want. Printout - a term referring to the document output by the printer. Proof - a copy obtained from inked type, plate, block or screen for checking purposes. Proof Correction Marks  Proportional Spacing - a method of spacing whereby each character is spaced to accommodate the varying widths of letters or figures, so increasing readability. Books and magazines are set proportionally spaced, typewritten documents are generally monospaced. Pull Quote - a small piece of text pulled from the main text and set off in larger type or boxed for emphasis. Q [back to top] Queue - the order in which documents are to be printed by the computer. R [back to top] Ragged - lines of type that do not start or end at the same position. Ranged Left / Right - successive lines of type which are of unequal length and which are aligned at either the right or left hand column. Raster Image Processor (RIP) - a device or program that translates instructions from a computer to a page description language used by the output service. Ream - a measurement equaling 500 sheets of paper. Record - a piece of data treated as a unit. Register - the correct positioning of an image when printing one color on another. Resolution - the measurement used in typesetting to express quality of output. Measured in dots per inch, the greater the number of dots, the more smoother and cleaner appearance the character/ image will have. Retouching - a means of altering artwork or color separations to correct faults or enhance the image. Reverse Out - to reproduce as a white image out of a solid background. Revise - indicates the stages at which corrections have been incorporated from earlier proofs and new proofs submitted.  RGB - a color model composed of red, green, and blue used to define colors on a computer monitor (RGB images need to be converted to
CMYK
for printing).Right reading - a positive or negative which reads from left to right. Rough - a preliminary sketch of a proposed design. RTF - Rich Text Format. An interchange format for exchanging editable documents among word processing programs. Ruler - rulers displayed on the screen that show measures in inches, picas or millimeters. Runaround - the ability within a program to run text around a graphic image within a document, without the need to adjust each line manually. Running Head - a line of type at the top of a page which repeats a heading. S [back to top] Saddle stitching - a method of binding where the folded pages are stitched through the spine from the outside, using wire staples. Sans Serif - a typeface that has no serifs ( small strokes at the end of main stroke of the character). Scale - to reduce or enlarge the amount of space an image will occupy. Scaling - a means of calculating the amount of enlargement or reduction necessary to accommodate a photograph within the area of a design. Scanner - a digitizing device used to translate a picture or typed text into a pattern of dots which can be understood and stored by a computer. Scoring - a pre-defined crease in paper to aid in the folding process. Screen Angle - when printing multiple colors, each color has to be printed at a certain angle to avoid the creation of moire patterns. Screen Font - the letter forms used to display type on a computer screen. Self Cover - when the cover of a multi-page book uses the same paper as the text pages. Serif - a small cross stroke at the end of the main stroke of the letter. Set Size - the width of the type body of a given point size. Set off - the accidental transfer of the printed image from one sheet to the back of another. Show-through - see Opacity. Sheetwise - Using different film and plates to print two sides of a sheet. Side stabbed or stitched - the folded sections of a book are stabbed through with wire staples at the binding edge, prior to the covers being drawn on. Size - a solution based on starch or casein which is added to the paper to reduce ink absorbency. Small caps - a set of letters which are smaller than standard and are equal in size to the lower case letters for that type size. Soft or discretionary hyphen - a specially coded hyphen which is only displayed when formatting of the hyphenated word puts it at the end of a line. Stat - photostat copy. Stet - used in proof correction work to cancel a previous correction. Latin for 'let it stand'. Straight Copy - refers to text only input. Stripping - assembling negatives and halftones so a plate can be made. Style sheet - a collection of tags specifying page layout styles, paragraph settings and type specifications which can be set up by the user and saved for use in other documents. Subscript - the small characters set below the normal letters or figures. Superscript - the small characters set above the normal letters or figures. Swatch - a color sample. T [back to top] Tabular format - the format of a table with rows and columns. Tabloid - a page half the size of a broadsheet. Template - a standard layout usually containing basic details of the page dimensions. Text wrap - see Runaround. Text - the written or printed material which forms the main body of a publication. Text type - typefaces used for the main text of written material. Generally no larger than 14 point in size. Thin space - the thinnest space normally used to separate words. Thumbnails - the first ideas or sketches of a designer noted down for future reference. TIFF - Tagged Image File Format. The most common and portable format for saving bitmap scans. Useful for moving files between the Mac and PC. Tile - print an oversize publication in section and assemble manually. Tint - the effect of adding white to a solid color or of screening a solid area. Translate - change one computer format into another format so it can be read by another application. Transparency - a full color photographically produced image on transparent film. Trap / Trapping - to overlap touching colors to avoid an unprinted line between them. Trim - the cutting of the finished product to the correct size. Marks are incorporated on the printed sheet to show where the trimming is to be made. TruMatch - a color matching system. Type 1 font - a format for high quality typefaces used for the graphics industry. Postscript fonts are Type 1 fonts. Typeface - the raised surface carrying the image of a type character cast in metal. Also used to refer to a complete set of characters forming a family in a particular design or style. Typo -an abbreviation for typographical error. An error in the typeset copy. Typographer - a specialist in the design of printed matter, and in particular the art of typography. Typography - the design and planning of printing matter using type. U [back to top] Under Color - In process work, black is strengthened by adding a percentage of cyan, magenta, and yellow to create a rich black. Unjustified - ragged right text. Uppercase - the capital letters of a font. V [back to top] Varnishing - a finishing process whereby a transparent varnish is applied over the printed sheet to produce a glossy finish. Vector graphics - representing graphics and pictures by lines and curves rather than by bit maps. Velox - screened print ready for stripping final copy. Vertical justification - the ability to adjust the interline spacing (leading) and manipulation of text in fine increments to make columns and pages end at the same point on a page. Vignette - a small illustration in a book not enclosed in a definite border. W Work & Turn - To print one side and turn over from left to right and print the second side using same gripper and plate but opposite side guide. X [back to top] X-height - the height of a letter excluding the ascenders and descenders; e.g. 'x', which is also height of the main body. Y Yellow - one of the four colors that make up the full color printing process. Z [back to top] |
||
|
|
Glossary © 2008 Capitol Press
