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GLOSSARY
Customer education + Glossary + Staff Development classes

Customer service + Into Print + Products and services

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

A
AA—Author's Alterations. Changes from manuscript made on proof by author or editor.
abort—Terminate a process, such as printing, before it is completed.
Acrobat—Software which allows a document created in page-layout programs to be viewed and printed as it was designed, whether on Macintosh or IBM-compatible computers. Developed by Adobe.
analog—Transmission of data as a continuously varying waveform, as opposed to digital.
Appletalk—A way to network a variety of computer systems.
application—Program, or grouping of them, that tells a computer how to perform specific tasks, such as word processing.
art—Any illustration or graphic used in a piece to be printed.
ASCII—American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A way to save text files that allows the text to be imported into another software.

B
back up—1. Print second side of a sheet after one side has been printed. Same as duplex. 2. Copy files to store in a separate location from the originals.
banner page—Page printed with each print request that identifies the requester and contains information about the order.
baseline—Imaginary line upon which printed characters sit.
bind—Join printed pages and covers in order to form a book.
bindexer—A sorter, located inside a printer's finisher, that collates the pages of each print set.
bit—Binary digit. Smallest unit that carries electronic information.
bitmap font—A font in which a series of pixels comprise each character.
bitmapped image—Image that is made up of pixels on a grid.
bleed—Image that prints beyond the trim edge of the sheet, so that when trimmed, the image extends to the edge of the page.
blueline—Proof of film, before printing plates are made. Shows copy, including photos, as it will appear on printed piece; shows color breaks.
boldface—Type that is thicker and darker than regular type.
boot—Load start-up instructions into a computer which then direct the loading of the rest of the programs.
browser—Software that allows access to the internet.
buffer—An area of memory used to store data while it is being transferred from one location to another.
bullet—Solid dots used to emphasize lists of words or phrases.
byte—Number of consecutive bits a computer deals with as a unit.

C
camera ready—Ready to be photocopied or for film to be made.
character—Discrete symbol, such as a letter, number, or punctuation mark.
character count—1. Average number of characters per pica for a given font. 2. Process of counting the characters and spaces in a manuscript to determine the area it will occupy when typeset.
CMYK—Cyan, magenta, yellow, black. Color model used in offset printing for full-color images. Can be thought of as primary colors: all colors on a printed piece are made of some combination of these four.
coated paper—Paper with a coating that gives it a smooth finish, which can range from eggshell to glossy.
coil bind—Continuous plastic coil used to bind notebooks.
collate—Arrange printed sheets in consecutive page order.
color space—Range of colors described by a specific color model.
complementary colors—Those opposite each other on the color wheel.
comp, comprehensive—Similar to dummy, but more complete. Shows colors.
composition—1. Arrangement of elements within the frame of an image. 2. Process of arranging type and images on a page.
condensed type—Narrow typeface.
continuous tone—Tonal gradations that are solid and not created by dot patterns.
copy—1. To duplicate or photocopy. 2. Type and images that will be used to produce a publication. 3. Manuscript or information to be typeset.
copyfitting—Determining amount of copy that fits in a given area.
copy ready—Ready to be photocopied.
crop—To frame out the parts of an image that are not to be printed.
cursor—Place marker on a monitor display that indicates where interaction is possible.

D
data—Information.
data stream—Data moving from one device to another.
database—Organized set of information.
default—Preset function or format, for example, a font, type size, or margins, that remains until changed by a user.
desktop publishing—Using a personal computer to prepare a publication up to the camera-ready or plate-ready stage.
digital—The use of zeros and ones to represent information.
digital printing—Printing images from digital data by digital plateless imaging systems.
dingbat—Ornamental character such as a bullet, flower, or star.
directory—Logical grouping of files and subdirectories that are identified by name.
disk—Data storage medium.
disk drive—The part of a computer system that draws information from and records it back to the disk.
diskette—Portable data storage medium, for moving files from one machine to another; standard sizes are 3.5 and 5.25 inches. Same as floppy disk.
download—Transfer a file or program from a central computer to a smaller one or to a computer at a remote location.
DPI—Dots per inch. Measure of screen and output resolution.
drive—The part of a computer system that reads the stored information.
dummy—Layout of publication, used as guide for final copy.
duotone—Two-color halftone reproduction.
duplex—To print on both sides of a sheet of paper. Same as back up.
duplicate—Reproduce an original; make exact copies.

E
embedded graphics—Graphics that are created in one program and placed into another, as opposed to being copied and pasted. Same as imported graphics.
enamel—Coating material applied to some papers by manufacturer.
EPS—Encapsulated PostScript. Format for saving PostScript graphics to be printed; used for vector, or line, images. The analagous format for web graphics is GIF.
Ethernet—Network that connects workstations to each other, file servers, and peripherals, allowing users to share information and services.
exception pages—Pages within a job where special page characteristics are set; can be a different stock size or color.
expanded or extended—Wide version of a typeface.
export—Send or save data in a format different from the one in which it exists.
extension—The characters in a file name that follow a period. In some instances it identifies the type of file: .ps identifies a PostScript file, for example.

F
fault—A condition that prevents proper processing of a print job and requires the intervention of an operator.
file name—The name of a file or directory.
file transfer—Send files from one computer to another.
fill—Add color or pattern to the inside of a shape.
film—Thin, transparent plastic coated with photographic emulsion.
finish—Operations performed on a document after it is printed: folding or trimming, for example.
fixed disk—A disk drive permanently mounted inside a computer. Same as hard disk.
flush left, flush right—Even with left margin or with right margin.
floppy disk—Portable data storage medium, for moving files from one machine to another; standard sizes are 3.5 and 5.25 inches. Same as diskette.
font—Complete assortment of a particular type, such as Times Roman. Includes alphabet, numbers, punctuation marks, and special characters.
font architecture—The way a particular type of font is constructed.
font size—The measurement of type, in points, from the top of the ascender (e.g., b) to the bottom of the descender (e.g., p) plus a small amount of space above and below to prevent lines from touching. Same as point size, type size.
format—1. The layout of a document, including margins, page length, line spacing, and fonts. 2. To prepare a disk to accept data.
fpo—For position only; indicates a low-resolution image to be replaced by a high-resolution version.
Freehand—Drawing program that creates PostScript vector graphics. Made by Macromedia.
ftp—File transfer protocol. A standard protocol for transferring files electronically.

G
galley—Early-stage proof, usually for checking type.
gateway—A network switching device used to connect incompatible networks.
GBC bind—Black plastic binding with teeth that fit into rectangular holes punched along edge of a multipage document.
generation—Each succeeding stage of preparation after the original copy has been submitted.
GIF—Graphic interchange format. Compression format for saving graphics that are to be viewed on a computer monitor. The analagous format for print graphics is EPS.
giga-—Prefix designating 1 billion.
gigabyte (GB)—1,024 megabytes, more than 1 billion bytes.
grayscale—Black-and-white image in tonal gradations. Same as continuous tone.
gripper—Part of press that holds the paper. No image can be printed along gripper edge of the paper.

H
halftone—Reproduction of a photo or drawing in which gray tones are changed into an arrangement of tiny dots. A halftone has no shades of gray -- only greater or lesser concentrations of black dots.
hard disk—A disk permanently mounted inside a computer. Same as fixed disk.
hard drive—A disk drive that contains a hard disk.
hardware—Physical components of a computer system, such as a monitor, hard drive, keyboard, printer, and so forth.
head to head—Pages printed on two sides and oriented so that they are read by lifting and turning each page along the side edge, as in a standard book.
head to toe—Pages printed on two sides and oriented so that they are read by lifting and turning each page along the bottom edge, as in a tablet padded along the top.
hickey—Imperfection in ink coverage, usually due to paper, dirt, or dry ink particles on press.
http—Hypertext transfer protocol. Communication protocol used on the world wide web.
hue—Refers to a color's name.
hypertext—text that is linked to other text (or graphics, sound, or video) on the web.

I
icon—A small pictorial representation of an item, such as a document, folder, or software, that resides on a computer.
Illustrator—Drawing program that creates PostScript vector graphics. Made by Adobe.
image—Pictorial representation.
image shift—To adjust the print area of a page.
imagesetter—Machine that produces high-resolution output from electronic files onto a tactile surface, i.e., paper, film, or printing plates.
imported graphics—Graphics that are created in one program and placed into another, as opposed to being copied and pasted. Same as embedded graphics.
impression—Pressure of type, plate, or blanket as it comes in contact with paper on a press.
impose—To arrange complete pages, on a computer or in pasteup, so that when printed sheets are folded they will be in the correct numerical order.
InDesign—Page layout software made by Adobe, is replacing PageMaker.
interpolation—Algorithm used to convert bitmap data from one resolution to a bitmap having another resolution.
IOT—Image output teminal. The part of a printer or copier that applies toner to paper.
italic type—Type that sits at a slant.

J
Jaz—Removable storage device with either 540-megabyte or 1-gigabyte per cartridge capacity. Made by Iomega.
job number—Identificaton number assigned to your job by the Printing Department or Document Services.
job status—Status, or location, of a print job in the print queue.
job ticket—Envelope or sheet that contains production, billing, and other relevant information about a job.
JPEG—Joint Photographic Experts Group. Compression format for saving bitmapped images, such as photographs, that are to be viewed on a computer monitor. The analagous format for print is termed TIFF.
justified—Even with left and right margins.

K
kern—Adjust the spacing between characters.
keyline—Rule that indicates where reversed area or solid block of color should be.
kilobyte—1,024 bytes.
knockout—Area of a background color that does not print in that color.

L
landscape—Horizontal page orientation.
laser—1. Light amplification by stimulation of emitted radiation; intense beam of light. 2. Copy output from a laser printer.
leader—Row of dashes or dots leading from one section of text to another.
leading—Vertical spacing, in points, between lines of type; sometimes called line spacing. Pronounced "ledding."
legal—Describes standard 8.5x14 paper size.
line length—Width of a line of type, in picas.
line screen—Frequency of dots that make up a tint or halftone.
LPI—Lines per inch. Same as line screen.

M
magneto-optical (MO) disk—Removable storage device that uses a combination of a laser reader and magnetic reader to store data.
mail merge—To bring together a file containing generic information, such as a form letter, with a file containing variable information, such as names and addresses.
MB—Megabyte. Unit of measure that describes an amount of electronic space - 1,048,576 bytes.
mechanical—Camera-ready copy. Also called art board, camera-ready art, or pasteup.
menu—List of options or functions.
mock-up—Layout of publication, used as guide for final copy. Same as dummy.
monitor—A computer's display unit.

N
nest—To embed an element such as a graphic or table within a document.
network software—Programs that enable computers to communicate with one another.
node—In digital illustration, a point at which lines meet or directions change.

O
offset—1. Printing process that uses intermediate blanket on a cylinder to transfer image from plate to blanket to paper. 2. Images of ink transferred from one printed sheet to the following one.
one-bit graphic—A graphic with two colors only-black and white.
orphan—Last line of a paragraph when it contains only one word.
outline font—A font in which a mathematical formula defines the outline of each character and the printer or monitor fills the area inside with pixels. Also called scalable and vector fonts. TrueType is a well-known example.
overprint—Printing on a sheet that has already been printed.

P
page layout software—Software that enables electronic assembly of pages.
PageMaker—Page layout software made by Adobe; is being replaced by InDesign.
PAINT—Low-resolution, bitmap graphics format. Not recommended.
—See mechanical.
pasteup—Camera-ready copy. Also called art board, camera-ready art, or mechanical.
PDF—Portable document format. Allows a document to retain its appearance across platforms. Adobe Acrobat uses a PDF format.
perfect bind—Pages held together and attached to wraparound cover with flexible adhesive.
peripheral—A device used in conjunction with a computer, such as a printer or modem.
Photoshop—Program for manipulating bitmapped graphics, such as photographs. Made by Adobe.
pica—Unit of measurement, approximately 1/6 inch.
PICT—Graphics format.
pitch—The number of printed characters per inch in word processing.
pix or pics—Photographs.
pixel—Picture element. The finest discrete element that can be displayed on a video screen.
plate ready—Ready for printing plates to be made.
platform—Hardware that runs a specific computer operating system. IBM PC and Macintosh, for example, operate on different platforms.
PMS—Pantone Matching System. Ink color system that is the standard for the North American graphic arts industry. Developed by Pantone, Inc.
PMT—Photo-mechanical transfer. Method of reproducing on paper line art or photos for printing. Can be placed directly on pasteup. Also called stat.
point—Unit of measurement, approximately 1/72 inch; 12 points equals one pica.
point size—The measurement of type, in points, from the top of the ascender (e.g., b) to the bottom of the descender (e.g., p) plus a small amount of space above and below to prevent lines from touching. Same as font size, type size.
portrait—Vertical page orientation.
PostScript—Language that describes text, graphics, and images on a page for screen display or printing. Developed by Adobe.
preflight—The process of checking incoming printing orders to make sure all the elements to produce the job are present.
printer font—Describes appearance of a font's characters to a printer; is not displayed on a monitor. Printer and screen fonts both are needed to print files.
printer spread—Pages paired in the order in which they would be printed in signatures. For example, printer spreads for an eight-page document would group pages as follows: 1/8, 2/7, 3/6, and 4/5.
process color—Color printed using two or more halftone plates to achieve intermediate colors. From four to eight colors are used to produce the intermediates.
program—Set of instructions for a computer to use.
proof—A trial impression of a document, used to check for errors before final printing.

Q
QuarkXPress—Page-layout program.
queue—Location on a server where jobs are stored until the server can deliver them to the printer.

R
rag bond—Paper with from 25 to 100 percent cotton fiber content.
ragged left—Type that aligns on the right margin.
ragged right—Type that aligns on the left margin.
RAM—Random-access memory. Mass storage system with horizontal and vertical coordinates that provide fast access to any storage location.
rasterize—To convert graphic images made of vectors into dots for viewing or printing.
RC paper—Resin-coated paper. Paper on which high-resolution type is set; same as silvers.
reader spread—Pages appearing in the order in which they would be read. For example, reader spreads for an eight-page document would group pages as follows: 1, 2/3, 4/5, 6/7, and 8.
recycled paper—Paper composed of at least 20 percent post-consumer material (State of Iowa definition).
reflective copy—Copy on opaque material, such as paper, where light must be reflected from the surface to reproduce it.
register—Exact alignment of two or more printed images on the same surface.
registration marks—Crosshairs used in multicolor printing to help check alignment of sequentially printed colors.
resident font—Font installed on a computer before it is sold to the consumer.
resolution—The clarity of an image, measured in lines per inch (lpi), dots per inch (dpi), or pixels per inch (ppi).
reverse—Type or image that is the color of the paper, with ink as the background.
RGB—Red, green, blue. The color model used for monitor display.
RIP—Raster image processor. Interprets PostScript language for imagesetter.
ROM—Read-only memory. Programmed chips with stored data that cannot be altered by subsequent instructions.
rule—Straight line in page-layout programs and printed matter.
running head—Title or chapter name repeated at the top of each page.

S
saddle stitch—To bind a folded publication by opening and stapling it along the fold, which holds the cover and inside pages together.
sans serif—Without serifs.
saturation—The relative purity or intensity of a color.
SBM—Signature booklet maker. An external finisher that cuts and folds documents into signature booklets.
scale—To change the size of an image without changing the proportions.
scan—Method by which an analog image, such as a photograph or drawing, is converted into a digital image on a computer.
screen—1. Finely patterned series of opaque dots or lines. 2. Process of adding a texture, pattern, or tint to a layout. 3. Specially patterned optical filter for breaking a continuous-tone image into a pattern of dots. 4. The part of a computer monitor that displays images.
screen font—Describes appearance of font's characters to a computer. Cannot be printed. Screen and printer fonts both are needed to print files.
scroll—To use a window's scroll bar to bring data into view.
self-cover—Cover made of same paper as text pages.
serif—Short, fine line at the end of a stroke in a character of type.
server—Unit in a computer network that stores files and distributes them to individual workstations.
shade—Created by adding black or a complementary color to a hue.
show-through—When print on reverse side of paper can be seen through the paper under normal light.
shrink wrap—Plastic wrapping that is sealed with heat.
signature—Sheet that has up to 32 pages printed on it; is folded to finished size and trimmed.
silvers—Paper on which high-resolution type is set; same as RC paper.
simplex—To print on one side of a sheet of paper.
slip sheet—Insert used to separate portions of a print order.
software—Program, or group of them, that tells a computer how to operate.
specs or specifications—Information needed to produce a job; includes typeface, size, folds, paper, ink colors, and quantity.
spot color—Ink colors used for printing that are mixed according to a formula, as opposed to process color, which prints the same four colors in different arrangements to simulate various colors.
staple—Finishing process that uses precut wire to bind printed sheets together.
stitch—Finishing process that cuts and inserts wire to bind printed sheets together.
stock—Paper to be printed upon.
strip—Assemble film on a flat to prepare it for platemaking.
style sheet—Formatting instructions for a document; includes specifications for fonts, type sizes, indents, and spacing.
Syquest—A type of removable hard drive. Used to transport large files from one machine to another.
system—Similar to platform. Sometimes used to describe a platform in greater detail. Also used loosely to refer to an operating system.

T
tabloid—Describes standard 11x17 paper size.
TCP/IP—Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol. Computer language that enables devices to communicate with one another.
template—Framework for a publication, with margins, type, and layout specs.
TIFF—Tagged image file format. Format for saving bitmapped images, such as photographs, to be printed. The analagous format for web graphics is JPEG.
tile—To print an oversized image in sections that can be pieced together.
tint, or screen tint—Created by adding white to a hue.
tone—Created by adding gray to a hue.
toner—Particles of resin and carbon black that accept electrical charge and adhere to paper to create an image.
track—To follow the movement of a job.
trap—To adjust the size of type or images that touch one another in a printed piece, if their colors are different.
Truetype—An outline font standard.
TruMatch—Color matching system, similar to Pantone.
type size—The measurement of type, in points, from the top of the ascender (e.g., b) to the bottom of the descender (e.g., p) plus a small amount of space above and below to prevent lines from touching. Same as point size, font size.
typeface—Complete set of characters of a particular design. Includes all fonts with the same family name (i.e., Times Roman, Times Bold, Times Italic, Times Bold Italic).

U
upload—Transfer data from a small or remotely located computer to a larger or central one.
Unix—Operating system for computers, usually in a network environment, consisting of a hierarchical system of commands, shells, files, and directories.

V
varnish—Thin, protective coating applied to printed sheet.
vector graphic—An image created of lines that are described by a mathematical formula.

W
web press—Press which prints on rolls of paper.
weight—Relative thickness, heaviness, or blackness of typographic characters, from light to extra bold.
widow—Line that stands apart from the rest of its paragraph at the top or bottom of a column or at the beginning or ending of a page.
window—Box that is a placeholder for a photo on a page layout.

Z
Zip—Removable storage device. Made by Iogmega.

References
The Illustrated Dictionary of Typographic Communication by Michael L. Kleper.
Dictionary of Graphic Arts Terms, Paper Corporation of America.