Glossary
Below is a list of terms related to printing

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

5000K Lighting
Light measuring 5000 degrees Kelvin (the color temperature of bright daylight). A component of industry-standard viewing conditions for inspecting transparencies, proofs, and press sheets.

Accordian fold
A bindery term for two or more parallel folds that open like an accordion. Brochures and maps often use accordion folds.

Against the Grain
Folding or feeding paper at right angles to the grain direction of the paper.

Aliasing
Visibly jagged steps along angled or object edges, due to sharp tonal contrasts between pixels.

Alkaline Paper
A stable, acid-free paper used for products that must resist deterioration and preserve their images for as long as possible. Archival photographs, high-quality books, and fine are prints are made on alkaline paper.

Artwork
Any reproducible copy of an emblem, picture, or design sent as mechanicals, photographs, transparencies, line work, stats, etc. whether as camera ready copy or only as logos to be used with our typesetting.

Aqueous Coating
A water-based alternative to varnish for protecting and enhancing print. May be applied in-line (on press) as a gloss, satin, or dull coating. Fast-drying, durable, and non-yellowing.

Ascender
Part of a letter that extends above the x-height, i.e. b, d, h, l.

Ascii
A file encoding with representation of text, no graphics.

Baseline
An imaginary line that letters and numbers sit on.

Basis Weight
The weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of paper cut to a given standard size for that grade; e.g., 500 sheets 25 x 38 of 80 lb. coated book paper weighs eighty pounds.

Binary
A file encoding with representation of text and graphics.

Binding
Binding begins after a printer has laid the ink on the paper. It includes cutting, folding, trimming, gathering (collating), stitching, pasting, insetting, casing-in, etc.

Bit
Binary Digit. The smallest unit of information in a computer, a 1 or 0. it can define two conditions; on or off.

Bitmap
In computer imaging, the electronic representation of a page, indicating the position of every possible spot (zero or one).

Blanket
The rubber-coated pad covering the intermediate cylinder of a lithographic press. An inked, reversed image is transferred, or offset, from this blanket cylinder, resulting in a right-reading impression on the press sheet.

Bleed
A printed image extending off any edge of a printed sheet. The bleed image must extend 1/8" beyond the trim size for trimming.

Blind Embossing
A design which is stamped without metallic leaf or ink, giving a bas-relief effect.

Blind Folio
Page numbers are not printed on the page.

Blueprint or Dylux Proof
A one-color photographic proof for checking design elements and page position. Ensures correct folding, trimming, and other bindery operations.

Brightness/Shade
A descriptive characteristic of color. Brightness also refers to the amount of light reflected from the surface of paper (or ink). A measure of a color's value, shade also describes the process of darkening a color by adding black or a complementary color.

Byte
A measurement unit equal to 8 bits of digital information. The standard measurement unit of file size. See also kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte.

C1S
A trade abbreviation for coated 1 (one) side. Card stock used for post cards and fliers or cast-coated sheets often used for covers are coated on one side only.

CMYK/Process Color
Acronym for the four-color process model for printing via four separate plates. The process-color method allows wide-spectrum reproduction by mixing ink combinations of the three subtractive primaries; cyan, magenta, and yellow plus black for increased tone control. Overprinting these transparent inks creates the optical illusion of full color.

Card Stock
Also called cover stock. A stiff paper often used for post cards, catalog covers and other items that require rigidity. Card stock is usually described by point sizes that give the thickness of the sheet in thousandths of inches. For example, 10-pt card is 0.010 inch thick. Card stock can also be described by pound weights based on the weight of 500 sheets measuring 20 inches by 26 inches each.

Case Binding
Casebound, or cased-in, books are typically harbound books. The book covers, called "cases," consist of rigid or flexible boards that are covered on the outside and on the edges with cloth, leather or other material.

Cast Coated
Coated paper dried under pressure against a polished cylinder to produce a high-gloss enamel finish.

CMS
Color Management System. This ensures color uniformity across input and output devices so that final printed results match originals. The characteristics or profiles of devices are normally established by reference to standard color targets.

Coated Paper
Paper having a surface coating which produces a smooth finish. Surfaces vary from egg shell to glossy.

Color Balance
The combination of process colors used to reproduce the colors of an original image or object. Process colors are in balance when perceived as true to the original, with no undesirable casts or incorrect hues.

Color Bars
Patches of solid, patterned, and tinted inks on the tail edges of press sheets. These quality control devices permit the measurement of variables such as color balance and registration, trapping, print density, dot gain, and slur.

Color Gamut
The range of colors that can be formed by all combinations of a given set of light sources or colorants of a color reproduction system. The normal human eye can perceive a wide gamut of colors-colors within the full range of the visible spectrum, including detail in very bright light and deep shadows. Transparencies and monitors, which display color using transmitted light, can hold some of that color range, or gamut. Because of such limitations as reflected light, ink impurities and paper absorption, a conventionally printed image is limited to a much smaller range of colors. Much of the work done in color correction arises from the tonal compression of the color gamut that occurs during the color separation phase.

Color Management
Matching colors between an original image, scanner, monitor, color printer, and final press sheet.

Color Proofs
Non-printed reproductions of color art produced by printers to closely approximate final printed color.

Color Separation
The process of separating an image into the primary printing colors of CMYK.

Compression
The reduction in memory of an image file. See also lossy and non-lossy.

Contract Proof
A proof, usually in color, that, when approved by the print buyer, constitutes a contratual obligation with the printer to purchase the printed materials that match the proof.

Contrast
The differences in tonal gradation between an image's highlight and shadow areas; the greater the range, the higher the contrast.

Creep
In a saddle-stitched document, a stair-step condition caused by multiple overlaid signatures. The inside pages creep away from the spine and push out on the opposite edge. Creep is a concern when using thick paper or too many pages.

Crop (crop marks)
The portions of an image to be reproduced, as indicated by vertical and horizontal corner lines.

Crossover
Artwork, image, text, or screen tint that continues across to the facing page of a publication.

CT
Acronym for Continuous Tone. An image or photo, usually scanned or input from a digital camera.

Cylinder
Part of a system of large rollers on an offset lithography press. The plate cylinder transfers an image onto the blanket cylinder, which is then offset onto a press sheet passing between the blanket and impression cylinders.

DCS
Desktop Color Separation. A set of four color-separated EPS images, with a fifth file that coordinates the four and provides a preview for placement.
Foldi

Debossing
Indented (not raised) letters or designs on paper or other material. The effect is produced by uninked dies or blocks. Any colors to be used are applied first by regular printing methods.

Densitometer
A photoelectronic device for measuring the reflection densities of print (or the transmission densities of film).

Density
An image's opacity; a measure of which determines the relative thickness of ink on press.

Descender
Part of a letter that extends below the x-height, i.e. g, j, p, q.

Descreening
Removal of halftone dot patterns while scanning a printed photo to avoid blurring the image. This also avoids morié patterning and color shifts during subsequent halftone reprinting.

Desktop
On a Mac, the main user interface screen. The desktop contains icons that represent programs, applications, disk drives, and other devices and objects. The user accesses these objects by choosing them from the desktop.

Die Cutting
The process of using sharp steel rules to cut special shapes for labels, boxes, and containers from printed sheets. Die-cutting can be done on either flatbed or rotary presses. Rotary die-cutting is usually done inline with the printing.

Digital Color Proof
A proof from a printer that does not require color separated films. Proofed directly from the computer.

Direct-To-Plate (DTP)
Direct exposure of image data from computer onto printing plates, without the intermediate use of film.

Display Font
A font designed for computer screen display as opposed to use with a printer. A few years ago most applications required two font sets, one for screen display and one for the printer. Today, this process is mostly transparent to the user since printers and displays support the same font set, or the application makes the conversion from screen to printer font automatically.

DMax
The point of maximum density in an image or original.

DMin
The point of minimum density in an image or original.

Dot Gain
Halftone dot growth causing darkened tones and colors, as well as reduced shadow contrast. Mechanical dot gain; the amount of ink absorbed into the body of a sheet that is affected by film, plate, and press processes, as well as by paper and ink selection.

Dots Per Inch (DPI)
Measurement of the resolution of output devices such as monitors, laser printers, and imagesetters. The more dots the device is able to print to the inch, the better it is able to faithfully reproduce the desired text or image.

Down-Sampling
The reduction in resolution of an image, necessitating a loss in detail.

Drawdown
A method of proofing inks for special color matches, whereby a thin sample layer of ink is drawn down upon the surface of a specified sheet for evaluation.

Drop Cap
A paragraph format where the first character of the first word is 3x the height of the body copy.

Drum Scanner
A high-resolution scanner usually with color correction and conversion software. Originals are mounted to a drum that spins allowing the scanner to convert the images into digital separations.

Duotone
The technique of reproducing a black-and-white photograph as a tonally enhanced, two-color halftone.

Dye-sublimation Printer
A printer technology that produces high-quality color images through a heat-transfer process.

EM
A unit of measurement exactly as wide and high as the point size being set. So named because the letter "M" in early fonts was usually cast on a square body. (Pronounced E, M)

EN
A fixed space half as wide as the EM. (Pronounced E, N)

Emboss
To create a die and stamp the paper from the rear in order to create a raised effect. De-bossing would stamp the paper from the front in order to create a sunken effect. If the embossing or de-bossing does not touch ink or a foil, then it is referred to as "blind" embossing. Should it touch ink, or have a foil on top of it, this is referred to as "registered" embossing/de-bossing.

EPS: Encapsulated PostScript
PostScript printer instructions that are stored in a file. The stored instructions can be copied to a compatible printer to print the document or image defined by the PostScript instructions.

Ethernet
A popular networking protocol used by Macintosh, UNIX, Windows, and other computer systems.

Fake Duotone
A two color image consisting of one channel printing a halftone image, while a flat tint overprints in the second color.

File Format
A set of instructions that describe how to store, access or tansmit digital information. Being able to match the format of data created in one program to what can be received by another is the basis for file compatibility.

File Server
A networked computer system used to store common files in such a way that all or only designated users and applications can access them.

Firewall
A hardware and software device that manages and limits access to certain network segments. Firewalls are used with local area networks (LAN) that are connected to the Internet, for example. The firewall limits what data can be retrieved from the Internet by LAN users and even what locations on the internet are accessible by users of LAN-based computers.

FireWire
A high-speed data bus. Firewire is particularly well suited to desktop video and audio applications, but hard disks and other devices also are starting to use this interface.

Fluorescence
The ability of a substance, such as paper or ink, to absorb ultraviolet light waves and reflect them as visible light.

Foil
To foil stamp create a stamping tool, known as a die and stamping a material onto the paper. The material usually is seen as metallic gold or silver, but can come as enamel colors as well. If the foil touches nearby ink on the piece or is raised by embossing, it is referred to as "registering".

Folio
Page numbers in publishing; evens on the left, odds on the right.

Font
A typeface; letters, numbers, and symbols sharing the same design. PostScript fonts contain all sizes of the typeface and include both a screen font and a printer font.

Font Ascender
In printing, that part of a character that rises above the baseline (e.g.: characters bdl)

Font Baseline
In printing, the line on which letters rest: characters gpjqy descend below the baseline.

Font Cap Height
In printing, the height of the capital letters in a given typeface measured from the baseline.

Font Descender
That part of a character that falls below the baseline (e.g.: characters gjpqy)

Font Families
A font is one size and face of type. Electronic systems can create a family of characters from a single computerized font.

Font Kerning
The process of fitting adjacent characters together to use space efficiently and to produce attractive lines of text. Kerned characters nest together, and moving under the rise of an adjacent r, for example. The letter j can fit close to a preceding letter d, but the letter d can't move especially close to a preceding letter o.

Font Substitution
The process of choosing a print or display font that is close, but not the same as the specified font in a document or application. Applications substitute fonts when the precise font used in the loaded document or file is not installed. Font substitution can produce documents that are almost indistinguishable from the original, or documents that are wildly different, depending on the original font and what fonts are available for substitution.

Form
The assembly of pages on a printed sheet. When folded, the form is called signature.

FPO
For Position Only. A low-resolution image place in a document to indicate where the final version it to be positioned.

Gamma
(1) In photography, the degree of contrast in an image. Film types are listed as creating certain gamma ranges appropriate to different uses.
(2) In electronic color correction the difference in the status of the color curve. The color curve represents highlight to shadow values between current values and corrected values. Changing the color curve (making a gamma correction) increases or decreases the highlights, midtones, and shadows relative to the original points on the curve.

GCR
Gray Component Replacement. Used in the printing process to produce CMYK colors by substituting black over a wide color range.

Ghost
A faint, unwanted image on a printed sheet that is a result of the printing system itself. A ghost usually appears as a lighter image printed as a repeat of an image and is caused by the layout of the press form and inability of the press's inking system to compensate for a large change in ink coverage.

GIF
Graphics Interchange Format. A cross platform format used for images. Gif only supports 256 colors.

Gigabyte (GB)
A measurement of disk storage capacity. One gigabyte is one thousand megabytes or 1,000,000,000 characters of storage space.

Glossy Paper
Coated paper with a shiny, relatively hard surface. Glossy paper is used to print photographs and other graphic material because the glossy surface accepts sharper printed images.

Grain
(1) In paper making, the direction in which most fibers lie, which corresponds with the direction the paper is made on a paper machine.
(2) In photography, the speckled appearance in prints or tranparencies produced by clusters of silver particles in photographic emulsions. Frequently considered undesirable and apparent when an original is enlarged too much, grain can also be emphasized for special, softening effects.

Gray Balance
The halftone dot values of cyan, magenta, and yellow required to produce a neutral gray. Used as a quality control measure for achieving proper color balance.

Grayscale
An image which is in shades of gray, not black and white or converted to black and white.

Gripper Edge
The leading edge of a sheet held by metal gripper "fingers" during offset printing. The gripper margin allows the sheet to pass through the press without affecting the image area.

Gutter
The blank space or inner margin from printing area to binding.

Halftone
The process of converting a continuous tone graphic into a pattern of small black dots that will produce a gradation of tone when printed.

Hard Copy
The permanent visual record of the output from a computer to printer. Also, the material sent to a typesetter in typed form, for conversion into typeset material, or proofing prepared files.

Hickeys
Print defects caused by foreign matter on the blanket or plate. Often appear in areas of solid ink coverage as dark specks surrounded by light rings of non-printed stock.

Highlight
The brightest part of a continuous tone graphic. Close to 100% white.

Hue
The blend of light or pigment which makes up an individual color.

Imagesetter
A device used to record digital data (images and text) onto monochrome film or offset litho printing plates by means of intermittent light beam(s). Color separated data is recorded as a series of slightly overlapping spots to produce either solid areas of line-art or halftone dots for printing continuous tones.

Imposition
Page arrangement into signature layouts, as defined by factors such as number of pages, press size, sheet size, and bindery considerations. Ensures correct sequential assembly when printed and bound.

Impression
The result of one cycle of a plate cylinder on a printing press.

Imprint
A press run (usually only black) that prints onto a preprinted shell. This saves the cost of printing multi colors on press for every press run when the colors are common from run to run, such as with business cards, newsletters, or stationery.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A company that supplies the hardware and software necessary to allow users to access the Internet by dialing into the ISP's computer network and server system.

Interpolation
In the image manipulation context, this is the increase of image resolution by the addition of new pixels throughout the image, the colors of which are based on neighboring pixels.

IP Address
A unique, numerical address that identifies network elements in a TCP/IP network such as the Internet.

JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group. A cross platform image format that uses "lossy" compression for saving images. This means saving an image in jpeg format throws away data from the original image.

Justified
When type is justified, both margins (left and right) are even and straight.

Kerning
The adjustment of space between two consecutive letters or characters.

Kilobyte (KB)
1,000 bytes

Knockout
A color placed on top another is set to make the bottom color drop off.

LAN
Local Area Network. A physical connection of two or more computers and other devices, such as printers, to enable communication among the connected devices.

Layout
The arrangement of type and logos within a printing area. A sheet indicating imposition for press.

Leading
In printing, the total space required to print a line of text including the space before and after it. Printed lines typically include extra space around a line based on the type of material, the font used, and other factors. For example, text may be set at 11 points and leading set at 13 or 14 points.

Line Art
Artwork which is only black and white, without any shades of gray.

Lines per inch (LPI)
A specification that shows how many lines of printed data appear in each inch of paper.

Lossy
Image compression that functions by removing minor tonal and/or color variations, causing visible loss of detail at high compression ratios.

Makeready
Procedures required to prepare a press for printing. Includes all adjustments necessary to produce a satisfactory press sheet for the customer; from mounting and packing plates to ink control and image register.

Marks
Guides; lines, crosses or other targets used for registering plates, specifying trim, fold, and bleeds.

Mask
To define the area of text or graphics which will be printed. Similar to cropping.

Master Page
A non-printing page containing elements which are repeated on each page of a document, such as header, footer, page number etc.; ensures consistent design.

Match Color
In printing, the duplication of a specified color by using either multiple process colors or special flat colors. Match colors may be defined by supplied samples or by numbers from color matching systems.

Matte
Surface finish of a substrate that is not shiny like a gloss.

Megabytes (MB)
One million bytes of data (1,000,000 bytes).

Moiré
Unacceptable visual patterns within halftones and screen tints caused by misaligned screens or imprecise register. Also caused by optical pattern conflicts between images and halftone dots, as well as between halftone screens and prescreened pieces.

Monochrome
Single-colored. An image or medium displaying only black-and-white or grayscale information. Grayscale information displayed in one color is also monochrome.

Mottle
The result of uneven ink absorption or poorly formed paper surfaces, this spotty variation in color or gloss appears most often in large solid or tint areas.

Negative
Reversed imaging. Used in creating metal plates for high quality black-and-white and color printing.

Noise
In the scanning context, this refers to random, incorrectly read pixel values normally due to electrical interference or device instability.
In the image context, this refers to a patterning that can be applied to an image, often used to soften a gradient or provide a special affect.

Non-Lossy
Image compression without loss of quality.

OCR
Optical Character Recognition. A computer software application that reads graphical material, such as a scanned document, and converts the graphical image into text that can be input to a word processor or text editor.

Off-line
Production operations conducted out-of-process rather than in-line (on-press), such as die-cutting or the application of special coatings via dedicated equipment.

Offset Lithography
A high-volume, ink-based printing process, in which ink adhering to image areas of a lithographic plate is transferred (offset) to a blanket cylinder before being applied to paper or other substrate. Accomplished by ink adhering to the image area and water adhering to the non-image area of the printing plate.

Offset Spray
A dry spray of powdered starch at delivery end of press used to separate freshly printed sheets with a fine layer of particles, thus allowing the ink to dry and avoiding undesirable offsetting.

Offsetting
A print quality problem where wet ink from a freshly printed sheet is transferred to the sheet above or below it in the delivery pile. Also called offset, or setoff.

Opacity
A paper's translucency, or the degree to which it minimizes print show-through from the opposite side. Also describes the degree to which an ink covers a substrate (or other inks).

OpenType Fonts
Standard fonts, based on the Microsoft TrueType fonts, that contain screen and printer fonts in a set.

OPI
Open Prepress Interface. The automatic updating of low-resolution files to high-resolution files at final RIP.

Optical Resolution
In the scanning context, this refers to the number of truly separate readings taken from an original within a given distance, as opposed to the subsequent increase in resolution (but not detail) created by software interpolation.

Orphan
In type, a single line of type sitting alone at the bottom of a page; usually the first line of a new paragraph that continues in the next column or page. Should be avoided.

Output
Processed optical or electronic data transferred to another device such as a secondary storage unit, a laser printer, an electronic manipulation station, or an analog or digital proofing device.

Overprint
On a press sheet color bar, overprints are color patches where two process inks have been printed, one atop the other. Checking the density of these patches allows press operators to determine trap value. The term Overprint also applies to any object printed on top of other colors.

Pagination
The process of performing page makeup/ordering of pages.

Partition
On a hard drive, logical segments that present a large disk to the OS as separate physical drives. Partitioning lets you store different types of data on separate partitions, or to create a disk that can boot into multiple operating systems.

Paper Grain
The alignment of fibers along the direction of flow in paper making. In grain-long paper, fibers run parallel to the sheet's length, while grain-short follows the width. Generally, registration is easier to control, folds are cleaner, and binding stronger when running with the grain.

Perfect Bind
A squared off edge, with scored hinges for ease of opening and glued in pages define this type of bindery. An example would be your standard "pocket" or "soft cover" book, as opposed to a "case bind" which is hard cover binding.

Perfecting Press
A printing press that prints both sides of the paper in one pass through the press.

Perforate
To perforate or die score in holes, so as to allow one to cleanly remove a coupon or page from the piece with ease and not destroy the piece. If the perforation goes from top to bottom, that is a vertical perforation. If from side to side, it is a horizontal perforation.

PDF
Acronym for Portable Document Format. This is a cross platform format used for sharing files with any user.

Photomechanical Process
The image reproduction process that involves photosensensitive imaging products (paper, film, proofing materials, and plates) that react to light. During the photomechanical process these materials are images using a contacting procedure.

Pica
Twelve points. A unit of typographics measurement. A PostScript pica is 1/6 inch.

PICT/PICT2
A common format for defining images and drawings on the Macintosh platform. PICT 2 supports 24-bit color.

Pixel
A tiny picture element that contains red, green, and blue information for color rendering on a monitor or a scanner. When generating colors, pixels are similar to dots of ink on paper. A monitor resolution description in terms of pixels-per-inch (ppi) is similar to a printer resolution description in terms of dots-per-inch (dpi).

Pixilate
The process of a graphics image becoming distorted as it is enlarged. A pixilated image displays details of the individual dots that make up the image.

Plate
Reproduction of type and images on metal, plastic, rubber or other material to form a printing surface.

Plate Setter
A device used to expose metal plates (sometimes paper or plastic plates) directly from digital files. Some platesetters also produce proofs from the same file.

PMS
Pantone Matching System. Is the best known color mixing system in the world today. It was designed to provide color standardization for the entire printing industry.

Points
A measurement of font size. One point is equivalent to 1/72nd of an inch; a 72-point font is approximately one inch tall.

Porosity
The open or closed characteristics of a paper's surface that allow air to pass through and ink to penetrate. Generally, coated papers have very closed surfaces and low porosity, and hold ink on the surface well. Some papers used for blow-in cards are porosity rated for bindery use.

PostScript
A printer or display language that defines program or application output.

Preflight
The process of checking customers' files to make sure everything is there and in the correct format.

Process color
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These four colors are considered process color which are used to match a wide spectrum of colors on press.

Process Control
A method of monitoring, controlling and improving a process through statistical analysis. The four basic steps of process control include measuring the process, eliminating variances to make the process consistent, monitoring the process and improving the process to its best target value.

Profile
The color characteristics of an input or output device, used by a Color Management System to ensure color fidelity.

RAID
Redundant Array of Independent Disks. A multidisk storage device that provides high-speed data access plus fault tolerance. Especially popular among video, sound, and other multimedia producers on the Mac.

RAM
Random Access Memory. Electronic storage where Mac programs are executed, temporary data is stored, and data manipulation is conducted. RAM is volatile storage, which means that data is lost when power is removed.

Rasterizing
The process of converting the mathematical definitions of fonts and other images into printed form.

Ream
500 sheets of paper.

Register/Register Marks
Precision print alignment relative to the edge of the sheet, and to corresponding graphic elements (including separations). Small cross-hair targets on mechanicals and film help to ensure accurate register on flats, plates, and press sheets.

Resolution (res)
A measure of image quality. Expressed in the number of bits used to store the image. (e.g.: DPI)

RGB (Color Space)
Acronym for Red Green Blue. These are the primary additive colors in the color wheel and are used to display an image on a computer screen. Combining red green and blue light produces white.

Rosette
A regular circular pattern created by the halftone dots of process colors when reproduced in register and at the correct screen angles.

RIP
Raster Image Processor. Hardware and software that rasterizes images and text fonts.

Saddle Stitching
A binding method in which the signature is opened up and stapled at the center. Multiple signatures can be stacked on top of each other and stapled. Pamphlets, folders, leaflets and magazines (of a maximum thickness) that consist of folded signatures bound by staples through the center fold are called saddle stitched.

Sans Serif Font
A font without serifs, character extensions that add definition and shape. San Serif fonts are most often used for titles, posters, and other short text. Fonts with serifs are used for body text because text in serif font styles are easier to read.

Saturation
The measurement of the amount of color pigment in a color. Also referred to as chroma.

Scan
Electronically creating a digital image from a photo or line are image.

Screen Angles
Angles at which the halftone screens are placed with relation to one another, to avoid undesirable moiré patterns. A set of angles often used is: black 45, magenta 75, yellow 90, cyan 105 degrees.

Screen Ruling
The fineness or coarseness of a line screen measured in Lines Per Inch.

Scuffing
Undesirable print abrasions caused by surface wear or rough handling. Particularly problematic in packaging, scuffing may be minimized with scuff-proof inks, varnishes, and other coatings.

Second Pass
The extra passage of a sheet through the press for additional color impressions or coating applications.

Self Cover
A publication format where the cover stock is the same weight as the text stock, as opposed to attaching a separate cover of heavier paper. Self covers are commonly used for booklets and similar small publications.

Serif
A small decorative line added to the basic form of a type character to make a font more readable or decorative.

Separation
The process of getting different colors on different plates/film.

Shadow
The darkest area of a photograph.

Sharpen
(1) In color correction and platemaking, to make halftone dots smaller by adjusting the exposure of the film or plate. Sharpening dots to decrease color is one of the dry dot-etching techniques for color correction. Sometimes printers will sharpen incoming film ready for platemaking to counteract mechanical dot gain (tone value increase, or TVI) on press.
(2) In detail enhancement, to electronically exaggerate the difference between tones or colors at their edges. During scanning, the function of unsharp masking can be adjusted to increase edge contrast and artificially enhance the detail overall. Certain paint and color manipulation programs have special tools to selectively sharpen isolated areas of an image.

Sheetfed
A press accommodating individual sheets rather than the paper rolls required of higher volume web presses. Sheetfed presses facilitate makeready and minimize paper spoilage, and the feeder mechanism accepts a wider range of paper stock.

Sheetwise
An imposition method utilizing different plates for each side of the press sheet. The sheet is turned over for printing the back side on a second pass, without changing the gripper edge.

Shingling
Adjustment of inside margins, or gutters, made during page layout, paste-up or stripping to compensate for creep. Creep occurs when inner pages of a saddle stiched document creep away from the spine and push out on the opposite edge.

Side Stitching
A binding method where two or three staples are passed through the signatures, usually on the left side of the book.

Signature
A folded sheet of paper, printed on both sides, for use in a publication. Signatures are produced in four-page increments, up to 64 pages. In common practice, the term also refers to any press sheet to be folded and bound.

Silhouette
Eliminating the background from behind an object in a photograph or piece of art.

Slur
A printing defect caused by movement of the sheet, blanket, or plate on press, resulting in elongated, blurred (or slurred) halftone dots and fine line distortion.

Soft Proof (Monitor Proof)
An image displayed on a color video monitor that visually simulates the expected printed results from the same digital data.

Spooling
The process of sending application output intended for a printer into a RAM or disk file temporarily. Spooling frees up an application quicker than sending output directly to a slow device.

Spot Color
Any color used for printing that is not reproduced using CMYK.

Stochastic Screening
An alternative to conventional screening that creates tonal gradations by placing same-size microdots (typically 12 to 30 microns) in a computer-controlled, random order within a given area. The computer uses frequency modulation to vary the number and placement of same-sized dots. The random dot pattern eliminates many moiré problems and allows more than four colors to represent the tones in an image.

Storage
Nonvolatile devices, including hard disk drives and floppy drives, used to store computer information or programs.

Stripping
The process of assembling and combining film or negatives to create the final four pieces of film used for four-color process printing. Stripping completes the films, which are then combined to create the actual printing plates. Can be done manually, but most frequently today, by computer. (Also know as Image Assembly.)

Style Sheet
A compilation of character and paragraph formats defined for a document on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis.

Substrate
The base material used to carry or support an image. For example paper or film.

TAC
Total Area Coverage. Percentage of ink in a file that a press can hold.

Tack
The stickiness of an ink. Tack is the relative measurement of the cohesion of an ink film that is responsible for its resistance to splitting between two rapidly separating surfaces.

TCP/IP
Transfer control protocol/Internet protocol. The communications protocol most often used in UNIX networks and the Internet.

Text Stock
Paper stock used for the pages of reports, books, and other printing where the stiffness of card stock is not required. Text stock is described by pound weight determined by the weight of 500 sheets that are 25 inches by 38 inches in size. For example, 500 sheets of 80-lb. text stock cut 25 by 38 inches weigh 80 pounds.

Template
A complete master, including master pages and style sheets, created to ensure the continuity of design elements throughout a document or series of documents.

Terabyte (TB)
One trillion bytes.

TIFF
Tagged Image File Format. Usually used to save scanned continuous tone images.

Tints
Screen tints are created by specifying percentages of solid (or flat) ink colors. Lighter, less dense colors and shading effects may be simulated by this uniform pattern of dots, similar to halftones. Tint also refers to the changing of a color's hue by adding color or extender to the ink.

Touch plate
Adds a special color, or accents a color within a specific image area, for reaching optimal color match. Commonly used to achieve bright reds.

Tracking
Adjustment of spacing between characters and words.

Transparency
Originals that are transparent and are scanned from a light source passing through the original, i.e. slides; A positive not negative.

Transpose
To exchange the position of a letter, word or line with another letter, work or line.

Trap
Application of spreads and chokes to prevent gaps and ensure there is no show-through of the paper between colors.

TrueType Fonts
Standard, scalable, outline fonts used by Apple and Microsoft that can be used for display or printing. TrueType standards enable applications and the files they produce to work well in a cross-platform environment and across applications.

Type 1 Fonts
Early PostScript fonts that offered improved versatility over fixed-font technology.

Typeface
A distinctive shape and design of type that makes a collection of letter recognizable. Typefaces are identified by name such as Times Roman, Helvetica, Palatino, and Century Schoolbook.

UCR
Under Color Removal. Using black to replace small percentages of other process colors.

Uncoated Paper
Paper that has not had a final coating applied for smoothness. Uncoated paper is absorbent and soft in appearance.

Units (On-press Printing Units)
Self-contained color stations on multi-color presses. Each includes a separate inking, dampening, and printing system for a single process or special color, varnish, or other coating.

USM
Un-Sharp Masking. A process used to sharpen images by exaggerating neighboring light and dark pixels.

Varnish
A clear-coat liquid sealer that overprints ink and paper to protect against scratches and scuffing, increase longevity, and enhance image appearance and impact. Can be gloss or dull.

Vector artwork
Computer generated art. Fonts and computer drawn items are considered vector artwork.

Vellum Finish
In paper making, a toothy finish which is relatively absorbent for fast ink penetration.

Vignette
An illustration in which the background fades gradually away until it blends into the unprinted paper.

Visible Spectrum
That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to which the human eye is sensitive; wavelengths of approximately 400 through 700 nanometers. Because of the characteristics of cone sensing (color-reading mechanism of the retina), it is generally agreed that humans detect only red, green, and blue. All perceived colors are combinations of those sensitivities (hue) in relation to the strength of the transmitted or reflected light (brightness) and the intensity of the light hitting the retina (saturation). Ultraviolet wavelengths are shorter and infrared wavelengths are longer than the sensitivity range of the eye and are invisible as a result.

Wash Up
The process of cleaning ink and dampening solutions from press components (such as plates, rollers, and fountains), for changing colors or preparing for a new print job.

Web Press
A press that prints images on rolls of paper.

White Light
Theoretically, light that emits all wavelengths of the visible spectrum at uniform intensity. In reality, most light sources cannot achieve such perfection.

Widow
A single word in a line by itself, ending a paragraph, or starting a page, frowned upon in good typography.

Wire Side
The side of a sheet next to the wire in paper manufacturing; opposite the felt or top side.

With the Grain
Folding or feeding paper into a press parallel to the grain of the paper.

Work-and-Tumble
A press imposition using the same plate for printing both sides of a press sheet, where the sheet is tumbled end-to-end for second-pass printing on the back. Because the gripper edge is changed and press adjustments made, this method is rarely used when precise register is critical.

Work-and-Turn
An imposition method utilizing the same plate for printing both sides of a press sheet, where the back-up, or second side, is printed by turning the sheet over, from left to right. This method provides better register than Work-and-Tumble by maintaining the same gripper edge.

X-Height
The height of lowercase letters in a font (not including ascenders or descenders).

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