Glossary of Typesetting, Publishing and Printing Terms
This glossary of terms associated with the
typesetting and printing industries was started by Henry Budgett (henryb@sco.COM
) is originally the copyright of The Desktop Publishing Company Ltd. It has
been added to by Michael Schulz from SOS Print & Media (Michael@sos.com.au) using various online
and offline sources.
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/W - an abbreviation for
Artwork.
Acetate - a transparent sheet
placed over artwork allowing the artist to write instructions or indicate where
second colour is to be placed. See Overlay.
Addendum - supplementary material additional to the main body of a book and
printed separately at the start or end of the text.
Air (US) - an amount of white space in a layout.
Airbrush - a mechanical painting tool producing an adjustable spray of paint
driven by compressed air. Used in illustration design and photographic
retouching.
Align - to line up typeset or other graphic material as specified, using a
base or vertical line as the reference point.
Alphabet (length or width) - the measurement of a complete set of lower case
alphabet characters in a given type size expressed in points or picas.
Anodized plate - an offset printing plate with a specially treated
surface to reduce wear during printing.
Apex - the point of a character where two lines meet at the top, an example
of this is the point on the letter A.
Apron (US) - additional white space allowed in the margins of
text and illustrations when forming a foldout.
Art paper - a smooth coated paper obtained by adding a coating
of china clay compound on one or both sides of the paper.
Art (US) - in graphic arts usage, all matter other than text material eg
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.
Author’s corrections - changes made to the copy by the author after
typesetting but not including those made as a result of errors in keying in the
copy.
Backing up -
to print the second side of printed sheet.
Backslant - letters that slant the opposite way from italic
characters.
Balloon - a circle or bubble
enclosing copy in an illustration. Used in cartoons.
Bank - a lightweight writing
paper.
Banner - a large headline or
title extending across the full page width.
Base artwork - artwork requiring
additional components such as halftones or line drawings to be added before the
reproduction stage.
Baseline - the line on which the
bases of capital letters sit.
Bed - the base on which the
Forme is held when printing by Letterpress.
Binding - the various methods
used to secure loose leaves or sections in a book; eg saddle-stitch, perfect
bound.
Black patch - material used to mask
the window area on a negative image of the artwork prior to 'stripping in' a
halftone.
Blanket
cylinder - the cylinder via which the inked litho plate transfers the image to
the paper. The cylinder is covered with a rubber sheet which prevents wear to
the litho plate coming into contact with the paper.
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.
Block in - to sketch in the main
areas of an image prior to the design.
Blow up - an enlargement, most
frequently of a graphic image or photograph.
Blurb - a short description or
commentary of a book or author on a book jacket.
Board - paper of more than
200gsm.
Body (US) - the main text of the
work but not including headlines.
Body size - the height of the type
measured from the top of the tallest ascender to the bottom of the lowest
descender. Normally given in points, the standard unit of
type size.
Bold type - type with a heavier
darker appearance. Most typefaces have a bold face.
Bond - a sized finished
writing paper of 50gsm or more. Can also be used for printing
upon.
Border - a continuous
decorative design or rule surrounding the matter 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 in magazines are sometimes referred to
as sidebars.
Bristol board - a fine board made in
various qualities for drawing.
Broadside - an original term for
work printed on one side of a large sheet of paper.
Bromide - a photographic print
made on bromide paper.
Bronzing - an effect produced by
dusting wet ink after printing with a metallic powder.
Bullet - a large dot preceding
text to add emphasis.
Calendered
finish - produced by passing paper through a series of metal rollers to give
a very smooth surface.
Caliper - the thickness of sheet of paper or board expressed
in microns (millionths of a metre). Also the name of the tool used to make the
measurement.
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 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 and dye which will produce copies without carbon paper. Also referred to as NCR (No Carbon Required).
Caret marks - an indication to the
printer of an ommission in the copy indicated as ( )
showing the insertion.
Cartridge - a thick general
purpose paper used for printing, drawing and wrapping.
Case bound - a hardback book made
with stiff outer covers. Cases are usually covered with cloth, vinyl or
leather.
Cast off - a calculation
determining how much space copy will take up when typeset.
Cast coated - art paper with a exceptionally glossy coated finish usually on one side
only.
Catchline - a temporary
headline for identification on the top of a galley proof.
Century
Schoolbook - a popular serif typeface used in magazines and
books for text setting which has a large x-height and an open appearance.
Chalking - a powdering effect
left on the surface of the paper after the ink has failed to dry satisfactorily
due to a fault in printing.
Character
count - the number of characters; ie letters,
figures, signs or spaces in a piece of copy, line or paragraph used as a first
stage in type calculations.
Chase - a metal frame in which
metal type and blocks (engravings) are locked into position to make up a page.
Close up - a proof correction
mark to reduce the amount of space between characters or words indicated as
(').
Coated - printing papers which
after making have had a surface coating with clay etc, to give a smoother, more
even finish with greater opacity.
Cold type - type produced without
the use of characters cast from molten metal, such as on a VDU.
Collate - to gather separate
sections or leaves of a book together in the correct order for binding.
Colour
separations - the division of a multi-coloured original or line
copy into the basic (or primary) process colours of yellow, magenta, cyan and
black. These should not be confused with the optical primaries; red, green and
blue.
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 inch deep.
Column rule - a light faced vertical
rule used to separate columns of type.
Compose - to set copy into type.
Concertina
fold
- a method of folding in which each fold opens in the opposite direction to its
neighbour, giving a concertina or pleated effect.
Condensed - a style of typeface in
which the characters have an elongated appearance.
Continuous
tone
- an image in which the subject has continuous shades of colour or grey 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.
Contrast - the degree of tones in
a photograph ranging from highlight to shadow.
Copyright - The right of copyright
gives protection to the originator of material to prevent use without express
permission or acknowledgement of the originator.
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.
Cropping allows the remaining parts of the image to be enlarged to fill the
space.
Cross head - a heading set in the
body of the text used to break it into easily readable sections.
Cursive - used to describe
typefaces that resemble written script.
Cut flush - a method of trimming a
book after the cover has been attached to the pages.
Cutout - a halftone where the background has been removed to
produce a silhouette.
Dagger
and double dagger - symbols used mainly as reference marks for
footnotes.
Dash - a short horizontal
rule used for punctuation.
Descender - any part of a lower case
letter that extends below the x-height, as in the case of y and j.
Die –
1. a hardened steel engraving stamp used to print an
inked image.
2. a metal shape on a wooden block used to cut out
irregular shapes on a cylinder
Disk
Operating System (DOS) - software for computer systems with disk drives
which supervises and controls the running of programs. The operating system is
'booted' into the computer from disk by a small program which permanently
resides in the memory. Commom operating systems
include MS-DOS, PC-DOS (IBM's version of MS-DOS), CP/M (an operating system for
older, 8-bit computers), Unix and BOS.
Display type - larger type used for
headings etc. Normally about 18 point or larger.
Dot matrix printer - a
printer in which each character is formed from a matrix of dots. They are normally impact
systems, ie a wire is fired at a ribbon in order to
leave an inked dot on the page, but thermal and electro-erosion systems are
also used.
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.
Double page
spread - two facing pages of newspaper or magazine where the textual material
on the left hand side continues across to the right hand side. Abbreviated to DPS.
Downloadable
fonts - type faces which can be stored on a disk and then downloaded to the
printer when required for printing. These are, by definition, bit-mapped fonts
and, therefore, fixed in size and style.
DPI (Dots Per Inch) - the measurement of resolution for page printers,
phototypesetting machines and graphics screens. Currently graphics screens
reproduce 60 to 100dpi, most page printers work at
300dpi and typesetting systems operate at 1,000dpi and above.
Drawn on - a method of binding a
paper cover to a book by drawing the cover on and gluing to the back of the
book.
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. Best known
is Letraset.
Dye transfer - a photographic colour
print using special coated papers to produce a full colour image. Can serve as an inexpensive proof.
EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter) - a graphics standard for the PC which can be added
or built into a system to give sharper characters and improved colour with the
correct display device. Standard EGA resolution is 640 by 350 dots in any 16
out of 64 colours.
Egyptian - a term for a style of
type faces having square serifs and almost uniform thickness of strokes.
Eight sheet - a poster measuring 60
x 80in (153 x 203cm) and, traditionally, made up of eight individual sheets.
Electronic
Publishing - a generic term for the distribution of information
which is stored, transmitted and reproduced
electronically. Teletext and Videotext are two examples of this technology in
its purest form, ie no paper..
Desktop publishing forms just one part of the electronic publishing market.
Em - in printing terms 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.
End papers - the four page leaves at the front and end of a book which are pasted
to the insides of the front and back covers (boards).
Epson
emulation - the industry standard control codes for dot matrix printers were
developed by Epson and virtually all software packages and most dot matrix
printers either follow or improve on these codes.
Exception
dictionary - in word processing or desktop publishing this is a
store of pre-hyphenated words that do not conform to the usual rules contained
in the hyphenation and justification program (H & J).Some programs,
PageMaker for example, only use an exception dictionary.
Expanded type - a typeface
with a slightly wider body giving a flatter appearance.
Express - a printer control
language developed by OASYS.
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.
Flag - the designed title of
a newspaper as it appears at the top of page one.
Flexography - a rotary letterpress
process printing from rubber or flexible plates and using fast drying inks.
Mainly used for packaging.
Floating
accent - an accent mark which is set separately from the main character and
is then placed either over or under it.
Floppy disk - (see disk)
Flush left - copy aligned along the
left margin.
Flush right - copy aligned along the
right margin.
Flyer - an inexpensively
produced circular used for promotional distribution.
Foil blocking - a process for stamping
a design on a book cover without ink by using a coloured foil with pressure
from a heated die or block.
Font (or fount) - a complete
set of characters in a typeface.
Form letter - used in word
processing to describe a repetitive letter in which the names and addresses of
individuals are automatically generated from a data base or typed individually.
Forme - type and blocks
assembled in pages and imposed in a metal chase ready for printing.
Four colour
process - printing in full colour using four colour separation negatives -
yellow, magenta, cyan and black.
French fold - a sheet which has been
printed on one side only and then folded with two right angle folds to form a
four page uncut section.
Full measure - a line set to the
entire line length.
Full point - a full stop.
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.
Gate Fold - Two end
panels fold inward, then folds again down centre of page.
Gathering - the operation of
inserting the printed pages, sections or signatures of a book in the correct
order for binding.
GEM - Digital Research's
Graphics Environment Manager. A graphical interface designed both to make
the operation of software simpler for the non-expert and to allow programs to
communicate with one another. Two key desktop publishing packages,
Gloss ink - for use in litho and
letterpress printing on coated papers where the ink will dry without pentration.
Golden ratio - the rule devised to
give proportions of height to width when laying out text and illustrations to
produce the most optically pleasing result.
Gothic - typefaces with no
serifs and broad even strokes.
Gravure - a rotary printing
process where the image is etched into the metal plate attached to a cylinder.
The cylinder is then rotated through a trough of printing ink after which the
etched surface is wiped clean by a blade leaving the non-image area clean. The
paper is then passed between two rollers and pressed against the etched
cylinder drawing the ink out by absorption.
Greeking - a
software device where areas of grey are used to simulate lines of text. One of desktop
publishing's less clever methods of getting round the slowness of high resolution
displays on the PC.
Grey scale - a range of luminance
values for evaluating shading through white to black. Frequently
used in discussions about scanners as a measure of their ability to capture
halftone images. Basically the more levels the better but with
correspondingly larger memory requirements.
Grid - A systematic division
of a page into areas to enable designers to ensure consistency. The grid acts
as a measuring guide and shows text, illustrations and trim sizes.
GSM - Grams per square metre.
The unit of measurement for paper weight.
Guard - a narrow strip of
paper or linen pasted to a single leaf to allow sewing into a section for
binding.
Gutter - the central blank area
between left and right pages.
Hairline
rule
- the thinnest rule that can be printed.
Hairlines - the thinnest of the
strokes in a typeface.
Half up - artwork one and a
half times the size which it will be reproduced.
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 - a glass plate or film placed between the original photograph and the
film to be exposed. The screen carries a network of parallel lines. The number
of lines to the inch controls the coarseness of the final dot formation. The
screen used depends on the printing process and the paper to be used, the
higher the quality the more lines can be used.
Hanging punctuation -
punctuation that is allowed to fall outside the margins instead of staying
within the measure of the text.
Hard disk - a rigid disk sealed
inside an airtight transport mechanism. Information stored may be accessed more
rapidly than on floppy disks and far greater amounts of data may be stored. Often referred to as
Hardback - a case bound book with
a separate stiff board cover.
Head - the margin at the top
of a page.
Helvetica - a sans serif
typeface.
Hickies - a dust particle sticking to the printing plate or
blanket which appears on the printed sheet as a dark spot surrounded by an halo.
Highlight - the lightest area in a
photograph or illustration.
House style - The style of preferred
spelling, punctuation, hyphenation and indentation used in a publishing house
or by a particular publication to ensure consistent typesetting.
Icons - pictorial images used
on screen to indicate utility functions, files, folders or applications
software. The icons are generally activated by an on-screen pointer controlled
by a mouse or trackball.
Imposition - refers to 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.
imPRESS - a page description
language developed by Imagen and supported by over 60
software products including
Impression
cylinder - the cylinder of a printing machine which brings the paper into
contact with the with the printing plate or blanket
cylinder.
Imprint - the name and place of
the publisher and printer required by law if a publication is to be published.
Sometimes accompanied by codes indicating the quantity printed, month/year of
printing and an internal control number.
Insert - an instruction to the
printer for the inclusion of additional copy.
Interface - the circuit, or
physical connection, which controls the flow of data between a computer and its
peripherals.
International
paper sizes - the International Standards Organisation (ISO)
system of paper sizes is based on a series of three sizes A, B and C. Series A
is used for general printing and stationery, Series B for posters and Series C
for envelopes.
Interpress - Xerox Corporation's page description language which
was the first such product to be implemented. At present the language still has
to be adopted commercially by a third party.
ISBN - International Standard
Book Number. A reference number given to every
published work. Usually found on the back of the title page.
Italic - type with sloping
letters.
Ivory board - a smooth high white
board used for business cards etc.
Justify - 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
(Kilobyte) - 1024 bytes, a binary 1,000.
Keep standing - to hold type or plates
ready for reprints.
Kerning - the adjustment of
spacing between certain letter pairs, A and V for example, to obtain a more
pleasing appearance. Not all DTP systems can achieve this.
Keyline - an
outline drawn or set on artwork showing the size and position of an
illustration or halftone.
Kraft paper - a tough brown paper
used for packing.
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 - work in which the
width used is greater than the height. Also used to indicate
the orientation of tables or illustrations which are printed 'sideways'.
See Portrait.
Laser printer (see also Page 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. Currently, most laser
printers set at 300dpi with newer models operating at up to 600dpi.
Lateral reversal - a positive or negative image transposed from left
to right as in a mirror reflection of the original.
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. Measured in
points or fractions therof. Named
after the strips of lead which used to be inserted between lines of metal type.
Legend - the descriptive matter printed below an illustration, mostly
referred to as a caption. Also an explanation of signs or
symbols used in timetables or maps.
Letraset - a proprietary name for rub-down or dry transfer lettering used in
preparing artwork.
Letterpress - a relief printing process in which a raised image
is inked to produce an impression; the impression is then transferred by
placing paper against image and applying pressure.
Letterset - a printing process combining offset printing with a
letterpress relief printing plate.
Letterspacing - the addition of space between the letters of words
to increase the line-length to a required width or to improve the appearance of
a line.
Library picture - a picture taken from an existing library and not
specially commissioned.
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 block - a letterpress printing plate made up of solid areas
and lines and without tones.
Line gauge - a metal rule used by printers. Divided into Picas
it is 72 picas long (11.952in).
Linen tester - a magnifying glass designed for checking the dot
image of a halftone.
Lineup table - a
table with an illuminated top used for preparing and checking alignment of page
layouts and paste-ups.
Lining figures - numerals that align on the baseline and at the top.
Linotype - manufacturers of a range of high resolution phototypesetting machines
such as the 100, 202, 300 and 500. The 100, 300 and 500 series are capable of
processing PostScript files through an external RIP and typesetting desktop
publishing files direct from disk at 1270dpi and beyond.
Lithography - a printing process based on the principle of the
natural aversion of water to grease. The photographically prepared printing
plate when being made is treated chemically so that the image will accept ink
and reject water.
Logo - short for logotype. A word or combination of letters set as a single
unit. Also used to denote a specially styled company name designed as part of a
corporate image.
Loose leaf - a method of binding which allows the insertion and
removal of pages for continuous updating.
Lower case - the small letters in a font of type.
M
(Megabyte) - one million bytes.
Machine
glazed (MG) - paper with a high gloss finish on one side only.
Macro - a series of
instructions which would normally be issued one at a time on the keyboard to
control a program. A macro facility allows them to be stored and issued
automatically by a single keystroke.
Magnetic ink - a magnetized ink that
can be read both by humans and by electronic machines. Used in cheque 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 forme
or around the impression cylinder.
Manilla - A tough brown paper
used to produce stationery and wrapping paper.
Manuscript
(MS)
- the original written or typewritten work of an author submitted for
publication.
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.
Matt art - a coated printing
paper with a dull surface.
Measure - denotes the width of a
setting expressed in pica ems.
Mechanical
binding - a method of binding which secures pre-trimmed leaves by the
insertion of wire or plastic spirals through holes drilled in the binding edge.
Mechanical
tint
- a pre-printed sheet of dots, lines or patterns that can be laid down on artwork
for reproduction.
Memory - the part of the
computer which stores information for immediate access. Nowadays this consists
exclusively of RAM, random access memory, which holds the applications software
and data or ROM, read only memory, which holds permanent information such as
the DOS bootstrap routines. Memory size is expressed in K or M.
Menu-driven - programs which allow
the user to request functions by choosing from a list of options.
Metallic ink - printing inks which
produce an effect gold, silver, bronze or metallic colours.
MG (Machine
glazed) - paper with a high gloss finish on one side only.
Mock-up - the rough visual of a
publication or design.
Modem (MOdulator-DEModulator) - a device for
converting digital data into audio signals and back again. Primarily used for
transmitting data between computers over telephone lines.
Modern - refers to type styles
introduced towards the end of the 19th century. Times roman is a good example
of modern type.
Moire pattern - the result of
superimposing half-tone screens at the wrong angle thereby giving a chequered
effect on the printed half-tone. Normally detected during the
stage of progressive proofs.
Monospace - a
font in which all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal width
regardless of the character.
Montage - a single image formed
from the assembling of several images.
Mounting
board - a heavy board used for mounting artwork.
Mouse - a handheld pointing
device using either mechanical motion or special optical techniques to convert
the movement of the user's hand into movements of the cursor on the screen. Generally
fitted with one, two or three buttons which can control specific software
functions.
MS
(Manuscript) - the original written or typewritten work of an
author submitted for publication.
Mutt - a typesetting term for
the em space.
Newsprint - Unsized,
low quality, absorbent paper used for printing newspapers.
Nipping - a stage in book
binding where after sewing the sheets are pressed to expel air.
Oblique
stroke - (/)
OCR (Optical
Character Recognition) - a special kind of scanner which provides a means of
reading printed characters on documents and converting them into digital codes
that can be read into a computer as actual text rather than just a picture.
Offprint - a run-on or reprint of
an article first published in a magazine or journal.
Offset
lithography - (see Lithography) a printing method whereby the
image is transferred from a plate onto a rubber covered cylinder from which the
printing takes place.
Oldstyle (US) - a style of type characterised by stressed strokes
and triangular serifs. An example of an oldstyle face
is Garamond.
Onion skin - a translucent
lightweight paper used in air mail stationery.
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 which will not appear
'low' as the geometric centre does.
Optical Disks - video disks
on which large amounts of information can be stored in binary form representing
characters of text or images. The disks cannot be used to view the
information using a modified compact disk player and TV. Mainly used for
reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias,
etc.
Orphan - line of type on its
own at the top or bottom of a page.
Outline - a typeface in which
the characters are formed with only the outline defined rather than from solid
strokes.
Overlay - a
transparent sheet used in the preparation of multi-colour artwork showing the
colour breakdown.
Overprinting - printing over an area already printed. Used to emphasise changes or alterations.
Overs - additional paper required to compensate for spoilage in printing. Also used to refer to a quantity produced above the number of
copies ordered.
Overstrike - a method used in word processing to produce a
character not in the typeface by superimposing two separate characters, eg $
using s and l.
Ozalid - a trade name to describe a method of copying page proofs from paper
or film.
Page
Printer - the more general (and accurate) name used to describe non-impact
printers which produce a complete page in one action. Examples include laser,
LED and LCD shutter xerographic printers, ion deposition, electro-erosion and
electro-photographic printers.
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. Their main benefit is that they allow the
applications software to be independent of the physical printing device as
opposed to the normal case where specific routines have to be written for each
device. Typical PDLs include Interpress,
imPress, PostScript and DDL.
Page proofs - the stage following
galley proofs, in which pages are made up and paginated.
PageMaker - the software
program from Aldus Corporation that everyone associates with desktop publishing
due to its immense success on the Apple Macintosh. Now available on both
the Macintosh and the PC it is still used as a benchmark product although
certain aspects of its design are coming under attack from other, more recent,
products.
Pagination - the numbering of pages
in a book.
Pantone - a registered name for
an ink colour matching system.
Paper plate - a short run offset
printing plate on which matter can be typed directly.
Paragraph
mark ( ) - a type symbol used to denote the start of a paragraph. Also used as a footnote sign.
Parallel fold - a method of folding;
eg two parallel folds will produce a six page sheet.
Paste up - the various elements
of a layout mounted in position to form camera-ready artwork.
Perfect
binding - a common method of binding paperback books. After the printed
sections having been collated, the spines will be ground off and the cover
glued on.
Perfector - a printing press which
prints both sides of the paper at one pass through the machine.
Photogravure - (see Gravure) a
printing process where the image is etched into the plate cylinder. The main
advantage of this method of printing is the high speed, long run capability.
Used mainly for mail order and magazine work.
Pi fonts - characters not usually
included in a font, but which are added specially. Examples of these are
timetable symbols and mathematical signs.
Pica - a printing industry
unit of measurement. There are 12 points to a pica, one pica is approximately
0.166in.
Picking - the effect of ink
being too tacky and lifting fibres out of the paper. Shows up
as small white dots on areas of solid colour.
Pipelining - the ability of a
program to flow automatically text from the end of one column or page to the
beginning of the next. An extra level of sophistication can be created by
allowing the flow to be re-directed to any page and not just the next
available. This is ideal for US-style magazines where everything is 'Continued
on...'!
PMS – Pantone
Matching System; Colour matching system developed by Pantone Inc. Most used
colour system in
Point - the standard unit of
type size of which there are 72 to the inch (one point is approximately
0.01383in). Point size is the measured from the top of the ascender to the
bottom of the descender.
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. Widely supported by both hardware and software vendors it represents
the current 'standard' in the market. John Warnock and Chuck Geschke of Adobe both worked for Xerox at the Palo Alto
Research Centre where PDLs were invented and set up
their company to commercially exploit the concepts they had helped develop.
Pp – printed pages, as opposed to leaves
Preview mode - a mode where word processing or desktop publishing
software which doesn't operate in WYSIWYG fashion can show a representation of
the output as it will look when printed. The quality ranges from acceptable to
worse than useless.
Primary colours - cyan, magenta and yellow. These three colours when
mixed together with black will produce a reasonable reproduction of all other
colours.
Print engine - the parts of a page printer which perform the
print-imaging, fixing and paper transport. In fact,
everything but the controller.
Printer Command Language (PCL) - a language developed by Hewlett Packard for use
with its own range of printers. Essentially a text orientated language, it has been expanded to give graphics capability.
Progressives - colour proofs taken at each stage of printing
showing each colour printed singly and then superimposed on the preceding
colour.
Proof - a copy obtained from inked type, plate, block or screen for checking
purposes.
Proof correction marks - a standard set of signs and symbols used in copy
preparation and to indicate corrections on proofs. Marks are placed both in the
text and in the margin.
Proportional spacing - a method of spacing whereby each 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-down menus - developed from Xerox research (like just about
everything else we take for granted in desktop publishing) these are a method
of providing user control over software without cluttering up the screen with
text. Using the mouse or cursor keys the user points to the main heading of the
menu he or she wants and the menu pulls (Windows) or drops (GEM) from the
heading. When the required function has been selected the menu rolls back up
into the menu bar leaving the screen clear.
Pulp - the raw material used in paper making consisting mainly of wood chips,
rags or other fibres. Broken down by mechanical or chemical
means.
Quadding - the addition of space
to fill out a line of type using en or em blocks.
Quire - 1/20th of a ream (25
sheets).
Rag
paper - high quality stationery made from cotton rags.
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)
- the hardware engine which calculates the bit-mapped image of text and
graphics from a series of instructions. It may, or may not,
understand a page description language but the end result should, if the device
has been properly designed, be the same. Typical RIPs
which aren't PDL-based include the Tall Trees JLaser,
the LaserMaster and AST's TurboLaser
controller. A basic page printer comes with a controller and not a RIP which
goes some way to explaining the lack of control
Ream - 500 sheets of paper.
Reference
marks - symbols used in text to direct the reader to a footnote. Eg asterisk (*), dagger, double dagger, section mark ( ), paragraph
mark ( ).
Register
marks - used in colour printing to position the paper correctly. Usually
crosses or circles.
Register - the correct
positioning of an image especially when printing one colour 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. Currently Page (laser)
Printers print at 300, 406 and 600dpi. Typesetting machines
print at 1,200 dpi or more.
Rest in
Proportion (RIP) - an instruction when giving sizes to artwork or
photographs that other parts of the artwork are to be enlarged or reduced in
proportion.
Retouching - a means of altering
artwork or colour 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. Eg First revise, second revise.
Right reading - a positive or negative
which reads from left to right.
Roll fold - Panels fold in
on each other. Each panel, from the outside in must be successively smaller to
allow for the paper thickness.
Roman - type which has
vertical stems as distinct from italics or oblique which are set at angles.
Rotary press - a web or reel fed
printing press which uses a curved printing plate mounted on the plate
cylinder.
Rough - a preliminary sketch
of a proposed design.
Royal - a size of printing
paper 20in x 25in (508 x 635mm).
Ruler - rulers displayed on
the sreen that show measures in inches, picas or millimeters.
Runaround (see also Text wrap) - the ability within a
program to run text around a graphic image within a document, without the need
to ajust each line manually.
Running head - a line of type
at the top of a page which repeats a heading.
S/S (Same size)
- an instruction to reproduce to the same size as the original.
Saddle
stitching - a method of binding where the folded pages are stitched through the
spine from the outside, using wire staples. Usually limited
to 64 pages size.
Sans serif - a typeface that
has no serifs (small strokes at the end of main stroke of the character).
Scale - the means within a
program to reduce or enlarge the amount of space an image will occupy. Some
programs maintain the aspect ratio between width and height whilst scaling,
thereby avoiding distortion.
Scaling - a means of calculating
the amount of enlargement or reduction necessary to accommodate a photograph
within the area of a design.
Scamp - a sketch of a design
showing the basic concept.
Scanner - a digitizing device
using light sensitivity to translate a picture or typed text into a pattern of
dots which can be understood and stored by a computer. To obtain acceptable
quality when scanning photographs, at least 64 grey scales are required.
Scraperboard - a board prepared with
black indian ink over a
china clay surface. Drawings are produced by scraping away the ink to expose
the china clay surface.
Section mark
( )
- a character used at the beginning of a new section. Also used as a footnote
symbol.
Section - a printed sheet folded
to make a multiple of pages.
Security
paper - paper incorporating special features (dyes, watermarks etc) for use
on cheques.
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 solid - type set without
leading (line spacing) between the lines. Type is often set with extra space;
eg 9 point set on 10 point.
Set off - the accidental
transfer of the printed image from one sheet to the back of another.
Sheet - a single piece of
paper. In poster work refers to the number of Double Crown sets in a full size
poster.
Sheet fed - a printing press which
prints single sheets of paper, not reels.
Sheetwise - a method of printing a section. Half the pages from
a section are imposed and printed. The remaining half of the
pages are then printed on the other side of the sheet.
Show-through - see opacity.
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.
Side heading - a subheading set flush
into the text at the left edge.
Sidebar - a vertical bar
positioned usually on the right hand side of the screen.
Signature - a letter or figure
printed on the first page of each section of a book and used as a guide when
collating and binding.
Sixteen sheet - a poster size
measuring 120in x 80in (3050mm x 2030mm).
Size - a solution based on
starch or casein which is added to the paper to reduce ink absorbency.
Slurring - a smearing of the
image, caused by paper slipping during the impression stage.
Small caps - a set of capital leters which are smaller than standard and are equal in
size to the lower case letters for that typesize.
Snap-to(guide or rules) - a WYSIWYG program feature for accurately
aligning text or graphics. The effect is exercised by various non-printing
guidelines such as column guides, margin guides which automatically places the text or graphics in the correct position flush to
the column guide when activated by the mouse. The feature is optional and can
be turned off.
Soft
back/cover - a book bound with a paper back cover.
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.
Special
Colour – colour mixed before the
press (as opposed to process colour, mixed from CMY & K on press). Also known as Spot Colour.
Spell check - a facility contained
in certain word processing and page makeup programs to enable a spelling error
check to be carried out. Dictionaries of American origin may not conform to
English standards and the option should be available within the program to
modify the contents. Dictionaries usually contain between 60,000-100,000 words.
Spine - the binding edge at
the back of a book.
SRA - a paper size in the
series of ISO international paper sizes slightly larger than the A series allowing
the printer extra space to bleed.
Stat - photostat
copy.
Stem - the main vertical
stroke making up a type character.
Stet - used in proof
correction work to cancel a previous correction. From the Latin; 'let it
stand'.
Strap - a subheading used above
the main headline in a newspaper article.
Strawboard - a thicker board made
from straw pulp, used in bookwork and in the making of envelopes and cartons.
Not suitable for printing.
Strike-through - the effect
of ink soaking through the printed sheet.
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. Some page
makeup programs, such as
Subscript - the small characters
set below the normal letters or figures.
Supercalendered
paper - a smooth finished paper with a polished appearance, produced by
rolling the paper between calenders. Examples of this
are high gloss and art papers.
Superscript - the small characters
set above the normal letters or figures.
Surprint (US) - (see Overprinting)
printing over a previously printed area of either text or graphics.
Swash letters - italic characters with
extra flourishes used at the beginning of chapters.
Swatch - a colour sample.
Tabloid - a page half the size
of a broadsheet.
Tabular
setting - text set in columns such as timetables.
Tagged Image
File Format (TIFF) - a common format for interchanging digital
information, generally associated with greyscale or bitmap data.
Tags - the various formats
which make up a style sheet- paragraph settings, margins and columns, page
layouts, hyphernation and justification, widow and
orphan control and automatic section numbering.
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.
Thermography - a print finishing
process producing a raised image imitating die stamping. The process takes a
previously printed image which before the ink is dry is dusted with a resinous
powder. The application of heat causes the ink and powder to fuse and a raised
image is formed.
Thin space - the thinnest space
normally used to separate words.
Thirty two
sheet - a poster size measuring 120in x 160in (3048mm x 4064mm).
Threaded or
Chained (US) - see Pipelining.
Thumbnails - the first ideas or
sketches of a designer noted down for future reference.
Tied letters - see Ligature.
Tint - the effect of adding
white to a solid colour or of screening a solid area.
Tip in - the separate insertion
of a single page into a book either during or after binding by pasting one
edge.
Tone line
process - the process of producing line art from a continuous tone original.
Toolbox - an on screen mouse
operated facility that allows the user to choose from a selection of 'tools' to
create simple goemetric shapes- lines, boxes, circles
etc. and to add fill patterns.
Transparency - a full colour
photographically produced image on transparent film.
Trash can
(US)
- the icon selected for the deleting of files or objects.
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.
Turnkey - a system designed for
a specific user and to work as an integrated unit. Usually has
built-in contractual responsibilities for hardware and software
maintenance.
Twin wire - paper which has
an identical smooth finish on both sides.
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.
Typescript - a typed manuscript.
Typo (US) - 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 printed matter using type.
U&lc - an
abbreviation for UPPER and lower case.
Universal
Copyright Convention (UCC) - gives protection to authors or originators of text,
photographs or illustrations etc, to prevent use without permission or
acknowledgment. The publication should carry the copyright mark c, the name of
the originator and the year of publication.
Varnishing - a finishing process
whereby a transparent varnish is applied over the printed sheet to produce a
glossy finish.
Vellum - the treated skin of a
calf used as a writing material. The name is also used to describe a thick
creamy book paper.
Vertical
justification - the ability to ajust 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.
Watermark - an impression
incorporated in the paper making process showing the name of the paper and/or
the company logo.
Web - a continuous roll of
printing paper used on web-fed presses.
Weight - the degree of boldness
or thickness of a letter or font.
Wf - an abbreviation for 'wrong fount'. Used when
correcting proofs to indicate where a character is in the wrong typeface.
Widow - a single word left on
the last line of a paragraph which falls at the top of a page.
Windows - a software technique
that allows a rectangular area of a computer screen to display output from a
program. With a number of programs running at one time, several windows can
appear on the screen at one time. Information can be cut and pasted from one
window to another. The best known version of "windows" is that
developed by Microsoft.
Wire - the wire mesh used at
the wet end of the paper making process. The wire determines the textures of
the paper.
Wire
stitching - see saddle or side stitching.
Woodfree
paper - made from chemical pulp only with size added. Supplied calendered or
supercalendered.
Word break - the division of a word
at the end of a line.
Word wrap - in word processing, the automatic adjustment of the
number of words on a line of text to match the margin settings. The carriage
returns set up by this method are termed "soft", as against "hard"
carriage returns resulting from the return key being pressed.
Work and turn - a method of printing
where pages are imposed in one forme or assembled on one film. One side is then
printed and the sheet is then turned over and printed from the other edge using
the same forme. The finished sheet is then cut to produce two complete copies.
Work and
tumble - a method of printing where pages are again imposed together. The
sheet is then printed on one side with the sheet being turned or tumbled from
front to rear to print the opposite side.
Wove - a finely textured
paper without visible wire marks.
WYSIWYG
What-you-see-is-what-you-get (pronounced "wizzywig")
- used to describe systems that preview full pages on the screen with text and
graphics. The term can however be a little misleading due to difference in the
resolution of the computer screen and that of the page printer.
X-height - the height of a letter
excluding the ascenders and descenders; eg 'x', which is also height of the
main body.
Xerography - a
photocopying/printing process in which the image is formed using the
electrostatic charge principle. The toner replaces ink and can be dry or
liquid. Once formed, the image is sealed by heat. Most page printers currently
use this method of printing.