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This is a basic list of words that may help understand printing terminology.
Full Service Print Center
Glossary
This is a basic list of words that may help understand printing terminology.
| Calendar: (for paper) | the use of two rolls (calendars) to squeeze paper and smooth the surface. A sheet may be run between a series of calendars that squeeze the sheet in several directions to smooth the surface in all directions. |
| Camera /ready: | In printing, a document is camera ready when all text and graphic elements are in position, ready to be processed by a single camera shot that produces a negative form which plates are made for printing. |
| Camera-Ready Copy: | Black and white artwork which is meant to be processed by shooting it on a process camera, converted to negatives and used to make printing plates. On a direct-to-plate system, the black and white artwork would be converted directly from the art to the printing plate. |
| Character: | a letter, number, punctuation mark or other symbol or other control code that is represented by one byte of information. A character can also be a space, which takes up one byte. |
| Clip Art/Click Art: | Black and white art which must be scanned, saved, then placed into a document is clip art. Electronic art files which are already on a disk are called click art. Both are economical ways to purchase copyright-free graphic images for use in electronic file preparation for publishing. |
| Clipboard: | a temporary storage area in computer memory to which objects are cut or copied and from which they can be pasted directly into a position into a page. |
| CMYK: | (Cyan, magenta, yellow, and Black Inks) The primary colors also known as process colors,height used in full-color printing. |
| Coated stock: | paper with a coating of clay or other substances to improve light reflectivity and ink holdout. |
| Coating: | substances applied to a finished sheet of paper to protect it or make it shiny. |
| Collating: | accumulating printed sheets in a given order. |
| Color Break: | The process of dividing a monochrome representation of a page so that the appropriate areas will proof or print in the appropriate color. |
| Color break: | in layout design, the term for identifying the specific color of art and copy elements. |
| Color Separation: | The process of using a process camera, scanner or computer to divide a continuousheight tone color image or graphic into four film images representing cyan, magenta, yellow and black to make the image printable. Spot color or flat color must also be separated before it can be printed. |
| Compatibility: | The degree to which a computer, an attached device, a data file or a program canheight either work with or understand the same commands, formats or language as another. |
| Compensation: | the act of sizing documents panels to allow for flat folding. |
| Compostition: | Composition is the process of keyboarding and combining typographic elements into pleasing page layouts for print production. |
| Compression: | Decreasing the size of an image file for storage with little or no distortion of the image data and quality. |
| Computer-To-Plate (CTP): | A process of sending a digital file to an imagesetter that produces a plate, either Poly or Metal, bypassing the need for Film and the stripping process. The quality and resolution is equal to or greater that earlier versions of imagesetting with Film. |
| Computer Ready Electrionic Files (CREF): | A written outline of parameters for the preparation and output of film and plates that was developed by the Scitex Company to assist in the handling and processing of electronic art files for printing. Scitex is a manufacturer of electronic prepress and proofing systems for the graphic arts industry. |
| Condensed: | When the set width of a font has been shortened, the font will be more narrow allowing more characters to fit on any given line length. Fonts should be condensed by using a true "condensed" version of a typeface. Condensing type by using the "attributes" selection screen of a page layout program increases the risk that the outputting or DTP equipment will not recognize the font or ignore it completely." |
| Continuous Tone: | Any graphic element which has a grey scale or is not "line art" originated from a continuous tone image. Examples of continuous tone originals are black and white photographs or pencil sketches. Continuous tone originals should be scanned and saved as TIFF files for use in page layout programs. |
| Contract proof: | A proof made from film negatives or from the electronic file from which press plates will be made. |
| Contrast: | The relationship between the lightest and the darkest areas of an image. Especially important when scanning halftones. |
| Converting: | A step in papermaking in which the sheet coming off the end of the paper machine is changed into a useable paper product. |
| Copyfitting: | Copyfitting is the process of writing or editing articles to fit into a predetermined space allowance. Good copyfitting results in evenly filled columns and pages with the proper amount of white space. |
| Copyright: | A collection of rights relating to the reproduction, distribution, and performance of original literary, musical, dramatic or artistic works, films, sound recordings, broadcasts, and other matter. The copyright owner has the exclusive right to do, or allow others to do, the acts set out in the legislation. |
| Creep: | The offset which occurs inside a signature. |
| Crop Marks: | Lines that define the area of an image that is to be cropped. May also be used in place of "trim marks" that show where the sheets will trim after the document is printed. |
| Crop: | To eliminate portions of the copy, usually on a photograph or a plate, indicated on the original by crop marks. |
| Cropping: | Defines the precise area of an image that is to appear when it is reproduced. A simple analogy is using scissors to cut the edges of a photograph, leaving only the desired area. |
| Deckle edge: | The edge of a sheet or the flap of an envelope that has a torn or feathered appearance. |
| Decompression: | Restoring a compressed image to its full file size. |
| Default: | A standard computer setting designated by the system designer or by the user, the setting is permanent unless specifically changed by the operator. This is the choice made by a computer program when the user does not specify an alternative. When fonts are not furnished with files, the computer will go to a default font. |
| De-Inking: | The process of extracting the ink and coatings from printed papers so that the fibers can be used again as a secondary fiber source. |
| Desktop publishing (DTP): | Direct printing of typeset material using small, relatively inexpensive computers and printers under the direct control of the creator of the material. |
| Digital Proofs: | Digital proofs are produced from electronic art files before color-separated films or plates are generated. This is the least expensive point in the overall proofing process for making alterations to files. Some examples of digital proofs are lasers, phasers wax proofs, dye sublimation, and color copies from digital data. |
| Digital: | A format which is recognizable and readable by a computer system. |
| Display type: | General term for type set larger than surrounding text as in headings or advertisements. Usually 14-point or larger. |
| Dot: | The individual element of a halftone or screen. |
| Dot Gain: | The dot size increase from film to printed piece. Dot gain can be simulated on a video monitor by adjusting the white point and contrast. Dot gain is the physical enlargement of the dot caused by plate exposure image spread, by the pressure between the plate blanket and impression cylinder of a press, or by ink spread as it penetrates the paper. A dot gain of 25 to 30% is common on web presses. |
| DPI: | The acronym for Dots Per Inch (DPI) A measure of screen and printer resolution that is expressed as the number ofheight dots that a device can print or display per linear inch. The higher the dpi, the higher the resolution and amount of detail which will be seen. |
| Drop cap: | A design style in which the first capital letter of a paragraph is set in a larger point size and aligned with the top of the first line. |
| Drop out: | Halftone dots or fine lines eliminated from highlights by over exposure during camera work. The lost copy is said to have dropped out. Dropouts may be done on purpose or accidentally. |
| Drop Shadow: | Screen tints or rules touching an illustration, box or type to give a tree dimensional height shadow effect. Also called a flat shadow. |
| Drum Scanner: | An optical device for converting an optical image to an electronic image. This is done by mounting the original copy on a revolving drum or cylinder and with the use of light and a photo-detector the image is digitized and stored. |
| DTP: | Is the acronym for Desk Top Publishing |
| Dummy: | A preliminary layout showing the position of graphics and text as they are to appear in the height final reproduction. Also a set of blank pages made up to show the size, shape, form and style of a prospective piece or a set of pages representing the finished book used by the printer to impose page numbers on the appropriate signature. |
| Duotone: | When a photograph is printed using two ink colors it is a duotone. The most common color combinations are black plus a color, but duotones can be created using two PMS ink colors. |
| Duplexing: | Copying on two sides of a sheet of paper. |