C sizes ISO paper sizes with correct dimensions to make folders and envelopes for products trimmed to A sizes.

CADD (Computer-Aided Drafting or Design) In graphics, the production of drawings and plans for architecture and engineering systems. CADD systems are specialized workstations or high-performance personal computers that employ CADD software packages and input devices such as graphic tablets and scanners.

CIS and C2S Abbreviations for coated one side and coated two sides.

calender To make the surface of paper smooth by pressing it between rollers during manufacture.

calender rolls A set or stack of horizontal cast-steel rolls with polished ground surfaces at the end of a paper machine. The paper is passed between the rolls to increase the smoothness and gloss of its surface.

caliper Thickness of paper or other substrate expressed in thousandths of an inch (mils or points), pages per inch (ppi), thousandths of a millimeter (microns) or pages per centimeter (ppc).

camera-ready copy Mechanicals, photographs and art that are fully prepared for reproduction according to the technical requirements of the printing process being used.

camera-ready Copy which is ready for photography.

caps and small caps Two sizes of capital letters made in one size of type, commonly used in most roman typefaces.

carbonless Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon.

carload Selling unit of paper that may weigh anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 pounds (9,090 to 45,454 kilos), depending on which mill or merchant uses the term. Abbreviated CL.

carton Selling unit of paper weighing approximately 150 pounds (60 kilos). A carton can contain anywhere from 500 to 5,000 sheers, depending on the size of sheets and their basis weight.

case Covers and spine that, as a unit, enclose the pages of a casebound (or hardbound) book.

case bind To bind using glue to hold signatures to a case made of binder board covered with fabric, plastic or leather. Also called cloth bind, edition bind and hard bind.

cast-coated paper High-gloss, coated paper made by pressing the paper against a polished, hot, metal drum while the coating is still wet.

catalog paper Coated paper rated #4 or #5 with basis weight from 35# to 50# (50 to 75 gsm) commonly used for catalogs and magazines.

CCD (Charge Coupled Device) In digital prepress, a semiconductor light sensitive electronic device that emits an electrical signal proportional to the amount of light striking it. Used in scanners and video cameras

CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) In digital prepress, a laser encoded optical storage disc that can store 650 Megabytes to over 1 Gigabyte of data on a disc about the size of a traditional 5-inch floppy disk.

CEPS (Color Electronic Prepress System) In digital prepress, a high-end computer-based system that is used to color correct scanner images and assemble image elements into final pages. They are device dependent systems.

chalking In printing, a term which refers to improper drying of ink. Pigment dusts off because the vehicle has been absorbed too rapidly into the paper.

change order Alternate term for alteration.

character generation The production of typographic images using font master data. Generated to screens or output devices.

chemical pulp In papermaking, treatment of groundwood chips with chemicals to remove impurities such as lignin, resins and gums. There are two types, sulfite and sulfate.

chemistry In photography and platemaking, a term used to describe the composition of processing solutions.

chipboard Solid (not corrugated) cardboard.

chokes and spreads Overlap of overprinting images to avoid color or white fringes or borders around image detail. Also called shrink and skinny. Called trapping in digital imaging systems.

chroma Strength of a color as compared to how close it seems to neutral gray. Also called depth, intensity, purity, and saturation.

chrome A term for a transparency.

CIE (Commission International de 1'Eclairage) The organization that developed color standards used in PostScript and other software.

CIE color spaces These are three dimensional color mapping systems such as ClELab, CIEL*a*b*, and CIELUV which are used to plot the three color attributes, X, Y, Z.
clean color Subjective term meaning vivid or pure.

closed loop system In printing, a completely automatic control system.

CMY (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) Subtractive primary colors, each of which is a combination of two additive primary colors (RGB).

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) The subtractive process colors used in color printing. Black (K) is added to enhance color and contrast.

coated paper Paper having a surface coating of clay and other substances which produces a smooth finish, improves reflectivity and ink holdout. Surfaces vary from eggshell to glossy.

coating In platemaking, the light-sensitive polymer or mixture applied to a metal plate. In printing, an emulsion, varnish or lacquer applied over a printed surface to protect it.

cockle finish Slightly puckered surface on bond paper.

cold color In printing, a color with a bluish cast.

collate In binding, the gathering of sheets and signatures.

collateral Printed pieces, such as newsletters and brochures, that support or supplement display or broadcast advertising.

collotype A screenless printing process of the planographic ink-water type in which the plates are coated with bichromated gelatin, exposed to continuous-tone negatives, and printed on lithographic presses with special dampening.

color balance The correct combination of cyan, magenta and yellow to (1) reproduce a photograph without a color cast, (2) produce a neutral gray, or (3) reproduce the colors in the original scene or object.

color bar A quality control term regarding the spots of ink color on the tail of a sheet.

color break In multicolor printing, the point, line or space at which one ink color stops and another begins.

color cast Unwanted color affecting an entire image.

color control bar Strip of small blocks of color on a proof or press sheet to help evaluate features such as density and dot gain.

color correction To adjust the relationship among the process colors to achieve desirable colors. Any method such as masking, dot-etching, re-etching and scanning, used to improve color rendition.

color curves Instructions in software that allow users to change or correct colors. Also called HLS and HVS tables.

color filter A sheet of dyed glass, gelatin or plastic, or dyed gelatin cemented between glass plates, used in photography to absorb certain colors and transmit others. The filters used for color separation are red, green, and blue (RGB).

color gamut The entire range of hues possible to reproduce using a specific device or process.

colorimeter An instrument for measuring color the way the eye sees color.

color keys Off-press overlay color proofs using 3M Color Key® materials.

color matching system System of numbered ink swatches that facilitates communication about color.

color model Way of categorizing and describing the infinite array of colors found in nature.

color proofs See analog color proof, digital color proof.

color separation 1. Technique of using a camera, scanner or computer to divide continuous-tone color images into four halftone negatives. 2. The film, proof or printed product resulting from color separating.

color sequence Order in which inks are printed. With process colors, the sheetfed sequence is often black first, then magenta, cyan, and yellow last. The web sequence is often cyan, magenta, yellow, with black either first or last. Also called laydown sequence and rotation.

color shift Change in image color resulting from changes in register, ink densities or dotgain.

comb bind To bind by inserting the teeth of a flexible plastic comb through holes punched along the edge of a stack of paper. Also called GBC bind.

commercial match Acceptable difference between the color on a sample of ink or paper, or the color on a proof, and the color achieved on press.

commercial printer Printer producing a wide range of products such brochures, posters, booklets, stationery and business forms. Also called job printer because each job is different.

commercial register Informal trade recognition that acceptable quality allows slight variation of register throughout the press run. The misregister allowable is within ± one row of dots.

commodity Refers to paper or printing produced quickly and in high volumes, thus relatively inexpensive.

common impression cylinder press In flexography, letterpress lithography and digital printing, a press with a number of printing units around a large impression cylinder.

commingled mailing Combined mailing of magazines of the same size to the same address to save costs.

composite film Combining two or more images on one or more pieces of film.

composite proof Proof of halftones and separations in position with graphics and type.

composition The arrangement of type, graphics and other elements on the page.

comprehensive dummy Simulation of a printed piece complete with type, graphics and colors. Abbreviated “comp.”

compressed files Files with nonessential data deleted to make them easier to store and transmit.

computer, analog A computer that solves a mathematical problem by using analogs, like voltage or density, of the variables in the problem.

computer, digital A computer that processes information in discrete digital form.

computerized composition An all-inclusive term for the use of computers to automatically perform the functions of hyphenation, justification and page formatting.

condensed type A narrow or slender typeface.

condition To keep paper in the pressroom for a few hours or days before printing so that its moisture level and temperature equal that in the pressroom. Also called cure, mature, and season.

conductivity A property of fountain solutions that must be controlled along with ph.

contact print A photographic print made from a negative or positive in contact with sensitized paper, film or printing plate.

contact screen A halftone screen on film having a dot structure of graded density used in vacuum contact with the photographic film to produce halftones.

continuous tone An image which contains gradient tones from black to white.

contone Abbreviation for continuous tone.

contract proof A color proof representing an agreement between the printer and the customer regarding how the printed product will look.

contrast The tonal gradation between the highlights, middle tones and shadows in an original or reproduction.

copy Any furnished material (typewritten manuscript, pictures, artwork, etc.) to be used in the production of printing.

copy preparation Directions for, and checking of, desired size and other details for illustrations, and the arrangement into proper position of various parts of the page to be photographed or electronically processed for reproduction.

cover paper A term applied to a variety of papers used for the covers of catalogs, brochures, booklets and similar pieces.

crash number Numbering paper by pressing an image on the first sheet which is transferred to all parts of the printed set.

crimping Puncture marks holding business forms together.

Cromalin Trade name for DuPont color proofs.

crop To eliminate portions of the copy, usually on a photograph or plate, indicated on the original by cropmarks

crop marks Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet.

crossover Printing across the gutter or from one page to the facing page of a publication.

cross direction In paper, the direction across the grain. Paper is weaker and more sensitive to changes in relative humidity in the cross direction than the grain direction.

crossmarks See register marks.

CTP (Computer To Plate) In platemaking, Computer-to-Plate systems or platesetters eliminate the need for having a separate film-to-plate exposure system.

curl In paper, the distortion of a sheet due to differences in structure or coatings from one side to the other, or to absorption of moisture on an offset press.

cutoff In web printing, the cut or print length.

cutscore In die-cutting, a sharp-edged knife, several thousandths of an inch lower than the cutting rules in a die, made to cut part way into the paper or board for folding purposes.

cyan Hue of a subtractive primary and a 4-color process ink. It reflects or transmits blue and green light and absorbs red light.

cylinder gap In printing presses, the gap or space in the cylinders of a press where the mechanism for plate (or blanket), clamps and grippers (sheetfed) is housed.

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galley proof A proof of text copy before being made into pages.

gamma A measure of contrast in photographic images.

gapless Plate or blanket cylinders without gaps.

gang Getting the most out of a printing press by using the maximum sheet size to print multiple images or jobs on the same sheet. A way to save money.

GATF Graphic Arts Technical Foundation.

gathering In binding, the assembling of folded signatures in proper sequence.

GCR (Gray Component Replacement) Wherever three color inks overprint, the two predominant ones determine the hue of the color and the lesser third color indicates the final color’s grayness or saturation. An amount of the three colors equivalent to the lesser third color can be removed from the color and replaced with black ink. Not only does this technique save on ink costs, it increases color saturation, speeds makereadies on the press, and improves print consistency.

gear streaks In printing, parallel streaks appearing across the printed sheet at the same interval as gear teeth on the cylinder.

generation Stages of reproduction from original copy. A first generation reproduction yields the best quality.

ghost bars A quality control method used to reduce ghosted image created by heat or chemical contamination.

ghosting A faint printed image that appears on a printed sheet where it was not intended. More often than not this problem is a function of graphical design. It is hard to tell when or where ghosting will occur. Sometimes you can see the problem developing immediately after printing the sheet, other times the problem occurs while drying. However the problem occurs it is costly to fix, if it can be fixed. Occasionally it can be eliminated by changing the color sequence, the inks, the paper, changing to a press with a drier, printing the problem area in a separate pass through the press or changing the racking (reducing the number of sheets on the drying racks). Since it is a function of graphical design, the buyer pays for the increased cost.

GB (gigabyte) One billion bytes.

gloss A shiny look reflecting light.

goldenrod paper In offset lithography, a specially-coated masking paper of yellow or orange color used by strippers to assemble and position negatives for exposure on plates.

grain In papermaking, the direction in which most fibers lie which corresponds with the direction in which the paper is made on a paper machine.

grammage A term in the metric system for expressing the basis weight of paper. It is the weight in grams of a square meter of the paper expressed in g/m2.

gray balance The dot values or densities of cyan, magenta and yellow that produce a neutral gray.

gray level The number of gray values that can be distinguished by a color separation filter — usually 28 or 256.

gray scale A strip of standard gray tones, ranging from white to black, placed at the side of original copy during photography to measure tonal range and contrast (gamma) obtained.

gripper edge The leading edge of paper as it passes through a printing press. Also, the front edge of a lithographic or wrap-around plate secured to the front clamp of a plate cylinder.

gripper margin Unprintable blank edge of paper on which grippers bear, usually 1/2" or less.

grippers In sheetfed printing presses, metal fingers that clamp on paper and control its flow as it passes through.

groundwood pulp A mechanically-prepared wood pulp used in the manufacture of newsprint and publication papers.

GUI (Graphical User Interface) Pronounced "gooey," in digital imaging, a technical term for a system that lets users manipulate files by pointing to pictures (icons) with a mouse or other pointing device instead of having to type in key commands.

gum arabic In offset lithography, used in platemaking and on press to protect the non-printing areas of plates.

gumming In platemaking, the process of applying a thin coating of gum to the non-printing areas of a lithographic plate.

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

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hairline A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch.

hairline register Register within ± 1/2 row of dots.

halation In photography, a blurred effect, resembling a halo, usually occurring in highlight areas or around bright objects.

halftone The reproduction of continuous-tone images, through a screening process, which converts the image into dots of various sizes and equal spacing between centers (AM screening), or dots of equal size with variable spacing between them (FM screening).

hard dot Halftone dot with little or no fringe and prints with little or no dot gain or sharpening. See soft dot.

hard copy The permanent visual record of the output of a computer or printer on a substrate.

hard proof A proof on paper or other substrate as distinguished from a soft proof which is an image on a VDT screen.

hardware Computer and peripherals as distinguished from software which is a program for operating hardware.

head margin The white space above first line on a page.

He/Ne Helium-Neon red laser with wave length of 632nm.

hickeys In offset lithography, spots or imperfections in the printing due to dirt on the press, dried ink skin, paper particles, etc.

high-bulk paper A paper made thicker than its standard basis weight.

high contrast In photography, a reproduction with high gamma in which the difference in darkness (density) between neighboring areas is greater than in the original.

highlight The lightest or whitest parts in a photograph represented in a halftone reproduction by the smallest dots or the absence of dots.

holdout In printing, a property of coated paper with low ink absorption which allows ink to set on the surface with high gloss. Papers with too much holdout cause problems with set-off.

HSV (Hue, Saturation and Value) A color space used in some graphic programs.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) In imaging for the World Wide Web, the coding language that is used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web.
hue In color, the main attribute of a color which distinguishes it from other colors.

hydrophilic Water receptive.

hydrophobic Water repellent.

hypertext Links to other documents. Words or phrases in the document that are so defined that they can be selected and then cause another document to be retrieved, opened, and displayed.

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image area Portion of paper on which ink can appear.

image assembly See stripping.

imagesetter In digital imaging, a generic term that applies to film-output devices for type and graphics. The difference between an imagesetter and a typesetter is in the format of the data that has been converted from discrete-character raster lines to raster data using bitmaps.

imposetter In digital imaging, an imagesetter capable of outputting a film flat with 4, 8 or more pages in imposed position.

imposition In image assembly, the positioning of pages on a signature so that after printing, folding and cutting, all pages will appear in the proper sequence.

impression Putting an image on paper.

impression cylinder In printing, the cylinder on a printing press against which the paper picks up the impression from the inked plate in direct printing, or the blanket in offset printing.

imprint Adding copy to a previously printed page.

indicia Postal information place on a printed product.

ink fountain In printing presses, the device which stores and supplies ink to the inking rollers.

ink-jet printing In digital printing, a plateless printing system that produces images directly on paper from digital data using streams of very fine drops of dyes which are controlled by digital signals to produce images on paper.

ink mist Flying filaments or threads formed by long low-tack inks like newspaper ink. See long ink.

Inkometer In ink testing, an instrument for measuring the tack of printing inks.

insert A printed piece prepared for insertion into a publication or another printed piece.

IR (infrared) Abbreviation for infrared radiation above 700 nm.

italic The style of letters that slant, in distinction from upright, or roman, letters. Used for emphasis within the text.

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jog To align sheets of paper into a compact pile.

justify In composition, to space out lines uniformly to line up left and right.

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kerning In typesetting, subtracting space between two characters, making them closer together.

key To code copy to a dummy by means of symbols, usually letters. Insertions are sometimes keyed in like manner.

keyboard The input device to input information directly into a typesetter, computer, workstation or, as a stand-alone unit, to record it on paper or magnetic tape.

keyline In artwork, an outline drawing of finished art to indicate the exact shape, position and size for such elements as halftones, line sketches, etc.

kilobyte (K or kb or KB) 1024 bytes, the most common measure of computer file length.

kiss die cut To cut the top layer of a pressure sensitive sheet and not the backing.

kiss impression In printing, a very light impression, just enough to produce an image on the paper.

knock out To mask out an image.

kraft A paper or board containing unbleached wood pulp (brown in color) made by the sulfate process.

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lacquer A clear resin/solvent coating, usually glossy applied to a printed sheet for protection or appearance.

laid finish Paper with a pattern of parallel lines at equal distances, giving a ribbed effect, simulating the surface of handmade paper.

lamination A plastic film bonded by heat and pressure to a printed sheet for protection or appearance.

LAN (local area network) Communication link in a localized area, such as an office, building, complex of buildings or campus, with technology that provides a high-bandwidth, low-cost medium to which many computer nodes can be connected.

laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) The laser is an intense light beam with very narrow bandwidth used in digital-imaging devices to produce images by electronic impulses from computers or facsimile transmission.

layflat See Eurobind.

layout The drawing or sketch of a proposed printed piece. In platemaking, a sheet indicating the settings for a step-and-repeat machine.

leaders In composition, rows of dashes or dots to guide the eye across the page. Used in tabular work, programs, tables of contents, etc.

leading (pronounced ledding) In composition, the distance between lines of type measured in points.

LED (light emitting diode) Used in place of lasers for some output systems.

ledger paper A grade of business paper generally used for keeping records where it is subjected to appreciable wear so it requires a high degree of durability and permanence.

letterspacing The placing of additional space between each letter of a word.

line copy Any copy suitable for reproduction without using a halftone screen.

LPI (lines per inch) The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone.

logotype (or logo) The name of a company or product in a special design used as a trademark in advertising.

long ink An ink that has good flow on ink rollers of a press. If the ink is too long, it breaks up into filaments on the press, and causes flying as on a newspaper press.

loupe A magnifying glass used to review a printed image, plate and position film.

lower case The small letters in type, as distinguished from the capital letters.

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M Abbreviation for Mega, which is commonly used to mean one million. In computer terminology however, M refers to the number 1,048,576, and is used to specify the amount of storage available on a disk or in memory. A 1 megabyte disk can record 1,048,576 bytes of data. See megabyte. Also, abbreviation for quantity of 1,000.

machine coated Paper which is coated one- or two-sides on a paper machine.

machine direction Same as grain direction in paper.

magenta Hue of a subtractive primary and a four-color process ink. It reflects or transmits blue and red light and absorbs green light.

magenta screen A dyed contact screen, used for making halftones.

magnetic storage Any disc, film, tape, drum or core that is used to store digital information.

makeover In platemaking, a plate which is remade.

makeready In printing, all work done to set up a press for printing.

marginal words Call-outs for directions on various parts of a business form.

mask In color separation photography, an intermediate photographic negative or positive used in color correction. In offset lithography, opaque material used to protect open or selected areas of a printing plate during exposure.

master A plate for a duplicating machine. See paper master.

Matchprint Trade name for 3M integral color proof.

matte finish Dull paper finish without gloss or luster.

measure In composition, the width of type, usually expressed in picas.

mechanical A term for a camera-ready pasteup of artwork. It includes type, photos, line art, etc., all on one piece of artboard.

mechanical pulp In papermaking, groundwood pulp produced by mechanically grinding logs or wood chips. It is used mainly for newsprint and as an ingredient of base stock for lower grade publication papers.

mechanical separation Mechanical art overlay for each color to be printed.

megabyte (Mbyte, MB, Meg, or M) One million character codes on the computer. One million bytes or characters, often written MB or Mbyte. A unit of measurement equal to 1,024 kilobytes, or 1,048,576 bytes.

megahertz (MHz) Frequency equal to one million cycles per second. Measures bandwidth or analog electronic signals.

menu In electronic publishing, a method for selecting alternative functions displayed as a list on a workstation screen. Selection via mouse, key or sequence of keys.

metric system A decimal system adopted by most countries for solid, liquid and distance measurements. See grammage.

micrometer Instrument used to measure the thickness of different papers.

middletones The tonal range between highlights and shadows of a photograph or reproduction.

modem (MOdulator, DEModulator) A device that enables a computer to talk to other computers through phone systems by converting computer signals (data) into high-frequency voice communications signals, and vice versa.

moiré In color process printing, the undesirable screen pattern caused by incorrect screen angles of overprinting halftones.

molleton In offset lithography, a thick cotton fabric similar to flannel used on the dampening rollers of a press.

monitor A video screen on a workstation.

montage In artwork, several photographs combined to form a composite illustration.

mottle The spotty or uneven appearance of printing, mostly in solid areas.

mouse A hand-held device that moves the cursor on a workstation by moving the device on a flat surface.

mullen tester A machine for testing the bursting strength of paper.

Mylar® In offset preparation, a polyester film specially suited for stripping positives because of its mechanical strength and dimensional stability.

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nanometer A unit in which wavelengths of light and other radiant energy are expressed. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

negative In photography, film containing an image in which the values of the original are reversed so that the dark areas in the subject appear light on the film and vice versa. See positive.

network Two or more computers which are linked and share resources to perform related tasks. Group of computers that are connected to each other by communications lines to share information and resources.

newsprint Paper made mostly from groundwood pulp and small amounts of chemical pulp; used for printing newspapers.

non-impact printer An electronic device like a copier, laser or ink-jet printer that creates images on a surface without contacting it.

non-reproducing blue A blue color the camera cannot see. Used in marking up artwork.

no-screen exposure See bump exposure.

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object-oriented An approach in drawing and layout programs that treats graphics as line and arc segments rather than individual dots. Also called vector oriented.

oblong A booklet or catalog bound on the shorter dimension.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) An electronic means of scanning (reading) copy and converting the scanned image to an electronic equivalent. The ability to "read" printed text (characters) and convert it to digitized files that can be saved on disk and edited as a text file.

off loading Relieving the intensive amount of data processing associated with a specific application (i.e., graphics) from the CPU, by performing those calculations in a dedicated or specialized processor.

off-press proofs Proofs made by photomechanical or digital means in less time and at lower cost than press proofs.

offset In printing, the process of using an intermediate blanket cylinder to transfer an image from the image carrier to the substrate. Short for offset lithography. Also, an unpleasant happening when the images of freshly printed sheets transfer images to each other. See set-off.

offset gravure Printing gravure by the offset principle. Generally done on a flexographic press by converting the anilox roller to a gravure image cylinder and covering the plate cylinder with a solid rubber plate.

offset paper Term for uncoated book paper.

OK sheet Final approved color inking sheet before production begins.

oleophilic Oil receptive.

oleophobic Oil repellent.

opacity That property of paper which minimizes the show-through of printing from the back side or the next sheet.

opaque In photoengraving and offset lithography, to paint out areas on a negative not wanted on the plate. In paper, the property which makes it less transparent.

opaque ink An ink that conceals all color beneath it.

OPI (Open Prepress Interface) An extension to PostScript that automatically replaces low-resolution placeholder images with high-resolution images.

orthochromatic Photographic surfaces insensitive to red but sensitive to ultraviolet, blue, green and yellow rays.

outline halftone Removing the background of a picture or silhouetting an image in a picture.

overhang cover A cover larger in size than the pages it encloses.

overlay In artwork, a transparent covering over the copy where color break, instructions or corrections are marked. Also, transparent or translucent prints which, when placed one on the other, form a composite picture.

overlay proof A color proof produced with four dyed or pigmented overlay films.

overprinting Double printing; printing over an area that already has been printed.

overrun or overs In printing, copies printed in excess of the specified quantity. (Printing trade terms allow for + /- 10% to represent a completed order.)

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packing In printing presses, material, usually special paper, used to underlay the image or impression cylinder in letterpress, or the plate or blanket in lithography, to get proper squeeze or pressure for printing.

page buffering The ability to spool an entire image to disk and print in a continuous motion.

page count Total number of pages in a book including blanks.

page makeup In stripping, assembly of all elements to make up a page. In digital imaging, the electronic assembly of page elements to compose a complete page with all elements in place on a video display terminal and on film or plate.

pagination In computerized typesetting, the process of performing page makeup automatically

palette The collection of colors or shades available to a graphic system or program.

panchromatic Photographic film sensitive to all visible colors.

PMS (Pantone Matching Systems) Color charts that have over 700 preprinted color patches of blended inks, used to identify, display or define special colors.

paper master A paper printing plate used on an offset duplicator. The image is made by hand drawing, typewriter or electrophotography.

paste drier In inkmaking, a type of drier, usually a combination of drying compounds.

pasteup See mechanical.

pattern carbon Special carbon paper used in business forms that only transfers in certain areas.

PDF (Portable Document File) A proprietary format for the transfer of designs across multiple computer platforms. PDF is a universal electronic file format, modeled after the PostScript language and is device- and resolution-independent. Documents in the PDF format can be viewed, navigated, and printed from any computer regardless of the fonts or software programs used to create the original.

PDL (page description language) In digital prepress, a computer language designed for describing how type and graphic elements should be produced by output devices.

perfect bind A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book, Microsoft software manual, or Country Living Magazine.

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

pH A number used for expressing the acidity or alkalinity of solutions. A value of 7 is neutral in a scale ranging from 0 to 14. Solutions with values below 7 are acid, above 7 are alkaline.

photoconductor In digital imaging, materials used in electrophotography which are light sensitive when charged by corona.

photomechanical In platemaking, pertaining to any platemaking process using photographic negatives or positives exposed onto plates or cylinders covered with photosensitive coatings.

PMT (photomultiplier tube) Used in drum scanners to produce color separations of high quality. Often used to make position prints.

photopolymer coating In photomechanics, a plate coating consisting of compounds which polymerize on exposure to produce tough abrasion-resistant plates capable of long runs especially when baked in an oven after processing.

pica Printer's unit of measurement used principally in typesetting. One pica equals approximately 1/6”.

picking In printing, the lifting of the paper surface during printing. It occurs when pulling force (tack) of ink is greater than surface strength of paper.

PICT In digital imaging, a standard data format with which most Macintosh illustrations are encoded.

pigment In printing inks, the fine solid particles used to give inks color, transparency or opacity.

piling In printing, the building up or caking of ink on rollers, plate or blanket; will not transfer readily. Also, the accumulation of paper dust or coating on the blanket of offset press.

pin register In copy preparation, the use of accurately positioned holes and special pins on copy, film, plates and presses to insure proper register or fit of colors.

pixel Short for "picture element." A pixel is the smallest resolvable point of a raster image. It is the basic unit of digital imaging.

plate cylinder The cylinder of a press on which the plate is mounted.

plate gap Gripper space. The area where the grippers hold the sheet as it passes through the press.

platesetter An image recorder which images directly on plate material, Platesetters currently available use lasers to expose or image paper, polyester or aluminum plates.

PMT (Photomultiplier Tube) A light-sensitive sensor that can sense very low light levels by amplifying the signals applied to it during the sensing. PMTs give drum scanners their superior color separation capabilities.

point Printer's unit of measurement, used principally for designating type sizes. There are 12 points to a pica; approximately 72 points to an inch.

poor trapping In printing, the condition in wet printing in letterpress and lithography when less ink transfers to previously printed ink than to unprinted paper. Also called undertrapping.

porosity The property of paper that allows the permeation of air, an important factor in ink penetration.

portrait In photography, vertical orientation of a format as opposed to landscape horizontal orientation.

position proof Color proof for checking position, layout and/or color breakout of image elements.

positive In photography, film containing an image in which the dark and light values are the same as the original. The reverse of negative.

PostScript® A page description language developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. to describe an image for printing. It handles both text and graphics. A PostScript file is a purely text-based description of a page.

pref lighting In digital prepress, the test used to evaluate or analyze every component needed to produce a printing job. Pref light confirms the type of disk being submitted, the color gamut, color breaks, and any art required (illustrations, transparencies, reflective photos, etc.) plus layout files, screen fonts, printer fonts, EPS or TIFF files, laser proofs, page sizes, print driver, crop marks, etc.

pre-press proofs See off-press proofs.

presensitized plate In photomechanics, a metal, film or paper base plate that has been precoated with a light-sensitive coating.

press number A method of numbering manufacturing business forms or tickets.

press proofs In color reproduction, a proof of a color subject made on a printing press, in advance of the production run.

pressure-sensitive paper Material with self sticking adhesive coating, protected by a backing sheet until used.

primary colors See additive primaries, subtractive primaries.

print quality A term describing the visual impression of a printed piece. In paper, the properties of the paper that affect its appearance and the quality of reproduction.

process colors In printing, the subtractive primaries; yellow, magenta and cyan, plus black in four-color process printing.

process lens A highly corrected photographic lens with a flat field for graphic arts line, halftone and color photography.

process printing The printing from a series of two or more halftone plates to produce intermediate colors and shades.

program In computers, sequence of instructions for a computer. Same as software.

psychrometer A wet-and-dry bulb type of hygrometer. Considered the most accurate of the instruments practical for industrial plant use for determining relative humidity.

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quality control A program of activities including customer service, process control and sampling with the objective of eliminating causes of process variability now called Statistical Process Control.

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ragged left In typesetting, type that is justified on the right margin and ragged on the left.

ragged right In typesetting, type that is justified on the left margin and ragged on the right.

ream Five hundred sheets of paper.

recto Right-hand page of an open book.

reducers In printing inks. varnishes, solvents, oily or greasy compounds used to reduce the consistency for printing. In photography, chemicals used to reduce the density of negative or positive images or the size of halftone dots (dot etching).

reflective copy In photography, illustrative copy that is viewed and must be photographed by light reflected from its surface. Examples are photographs, drawings, etc.

register In printing, fitting of two or more printing images in exact alignment with each other.

register marks Crosses or other targets applied to original copy prior to photography. Used for positioning films in register, or for register of two or more colors in process printing.

RH (relative humidity) The amount of water vapor present in the atmosphere expressed as a percentage of the maximum that could be present at the same temperature.

repeatability The ability to keep photo film and the images thereon in proper register in imagesetters and film plotters. Repeatability is usually measured in micrometers.

reprography Copying and duplicating.

resist In photomechanics, a light-hardened stencil to prevent etching of non-printing areas on plates.

resolution In electronic imaging, the quantification of printout quality using the number of spots per inch.

respi screen In halftone photography, a contact screen with 110-line screen ruling in the highlights and 220-line in the middle tones and shadows to produce a longer scale and smoother gradation of tones in the light areas of the copy.

retrofit Backwards integration of advanced capability into a device or program not originally intended for that purpose.

reverse The opposite of what you see. Printing the background of an image. For example; type your name on a piece of paper. The reverse of this would be a black piece of paper with a white name.

reverse angle doctor blade In flexography, similar to doctor blade in gravure except used with much lighter pressure and a reverse angle on the anilox roll.

RGB (Red, Green and Blue) The primary additive colors used in display devices and scanners. Commonly used to refer to the color space, mixing system or monitor in color computer graphics.

right-angle fold In binding, a term used for two or more folds that are at 90° angles to each other.

RIP (raster image processor) In digital imaging, a combination of computer software and hardware that controls the printing process by calculating the bitmaps of images and instructing a printing device to create the images. Most PostScript systems use a hardware RIP built into the printer.

rip film A method of making printing negatives from PostScript files created by desktop publishing.

roller stripping In lithography, a term denoting that the ink does not adhere to the metal ink rollers on a press.

rub-proof In printing, an ink that has reached maximum dryness and does not mar with normal abrasion.

run-around In composition, the term describing type set to fit around a picture or other element of the design.

runnability Paper properties that affect the ability of the paper to run on the press.

running head A headline or title repeated at the top of each page.

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saddle stitch In binding, to fasten a booklet by wiring it through the middle fold of the sheets. Also called saddle wire.

safelight In photography, the special darkroom lamp used for illumination without fogging sensitized materials.

scaling Determining the proper size of an image to be reduced or enlarged to fit an area.

scan-a-web In web printing, a rotating mirror arrangement where speed can be varied to match the speed of a press so the image on paper can be examined during printing.

scanner An electronic device used in the making of color and tone-corrected separations of images.

score To impress or indent a mark in the paper to make folding easier.

screen See contact screen.

screen angles In color reproduction, angles at which the halftone screens are placed in relation to one another, to avoid undesirable moiré patterns. A set of angles often used is: black 45° magenta 75°, yellow 90°, cyan 105°.

screened print In photography, a print with a halftone screen made from a halftone negative or by diffusion transfer.

screen ruling The number of lines or dots per inch on a halftone screen.

SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) Pronounced "skuzzy," SCSI is an interface used to transmit digital data and to connect computers to peripherals. An industry-standard interface for hard drives and other storage devices that allows for very fast transfers of information.

scum In offset lithography, a film of ink printing in the non-image areas of a plate where it should not print.

self cover A cover of the same paper as inside text pages.

semi-chemical pulp A combination of chemical and mechanical pulping with properties similar to chemical pulp.

sensitivity guide A continuous-tone gray scale with numbered steps used to control exposures in platemaking and lithfilm photography.

serif The short cross-lines at the ends of the main strokes of many letters in some typefaces.

server A file server provides file data interchange between compatible peripheral devices on a local area network. Servers are identified by the type of resource they provide (e.g., disk server, file server, printer server, communications server).

set-off In presswork, when the ink of a printed sheet rubs off or marks the next sheet as it is being delivered. Also called offset.

SGML (Standard Generalized Mark-Up Language) SGML is one of the newer languages for marking text for a variety of purposes, including typesetting and disk publishing. A well-designed SGML scheme enables the publisher to mark text just once for multiple uses.

shadow The darkest parts in a photograph, represented in a halftone by the largest dots.

sharpen To decrease in color strength, as when halftone dots become smaller; opposite of dot spread or dot gain.

sheetwise To print one side of a sheet of paper with one plate, then turn the sheet over and print the other side with another plate using same gripper and opposite side guide.

shingling In image assembly and layouts, for large signatures the center or gutter margin is varied according to the position of the page in the signature and the bulk of the paper.

short ink An ink that is buttery and does not flow freely.

show-through In printing, the undesirable condition in which the printing on the reverse side of a sheet can be seen through the sheet under normal lighting conditions.

side guide On sheetfed presses, a guide on the feed board to position the sheet sideways as it feeds into the front guides before entering the impression cylinder.

side stitch Binding by stapling along one side of a sheet.

signature In printing and binding, the name given to a printed sheet after it has been folded.

silhouette halftone A halftone of a subject with all of the background removed.

sizing The treatment of paper which gives it resistance to the penetration of liquids (particularly water) or vapors.

skid A platform support for a pile of cut sheets of paper.

slitting Cutting printed sheets or webs into two or more sections by means of cutting wheels on a press or folder.

small caps An alphabet of SMALL CAPITAL LETTERS available in most roman typefaces approximately the size of the lower-case letters. Used in combination with larger capital letters.

soft dot Halftone dot with considerable fringe which causes dot gain or sharpening in printing or photography

soft ink Descriptive of the consistency of paste inks.

soft proof See hard proof.

software See program.

specifications A precise description of a print order.

spectrophotometer Instrument for measuring color for CIE color spaces. It is more accurate than most color colorimeters.

spectrum The complete range of colors in the rainbow, from short wavelengths (blue) to long wavelengths (red).

SPC (Statistical Process Control) Formerly called quality control. Successful SPC depends on four functions of quality assurance: specifications and control of raw materials, control of the printing process, standards and tolerances of acceptability, and inspection.

spine The binding edge of a book or publication. Also backbone.

spiral binding A book bound with wires in spiral form inserted through holes punched along the binding side.

split fountain Putting more than one ink in a printing fountain to achieve special color affects.

spoilage Planned paper waste for all printing operations.

spool (simultaneous peripheral operations on-line) Refers to an output data set that is waiting for a print device.

spot Smallest visible point that can be displayed or printed. The smallest diameter of light that a scanner can detect, or an imagesetter or printer can image. Dot should not be confused with spot.

spot varnish Varnish used to highlight a specific part of the printed sheet.

stamping Term for foil stamping.

star target Film pinwheel used to measure resolution of plates during production and degradation during printing.

stat Term for inexpensive print of line copy or halftone.

static neutralizer In printing presses, an attachment designed to remove the static electricity from the paper to avoid ink set-off and trouble with feeding the paper.

step-and-repeat In photomechanics, the procedure of multiple exposure using the same image by stepping it in position according to a predetermined layout or program.

stet A proofreader's mark, written in the margin, signifying that copy marked for corrections should remain as it was.

stochastic screening A digital screening process that converts images into very small dots (14-40 microns) of equal size and variable spacing. Second order screened images have variable size dots and variable spacing. Also called Frequency Modulated (FM) screening.

stock Paper or other material to be printed.

stone In lithography, formerly used as the plate material and presently used by artists as an art medium. In letterpress, the bed on which metal type is leveled and locked up.

strike-on composition or cold type Type set on typewriter composing machines.

strike-through See show-through.

stripping In image assembly, the positioning of negatives (or positives) on a flat to compose a page or layout for platemaking. In printing, ink stripping on ink rollers prevented by plastic or copper coated steel rollers in the ink roller train.

substance The weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of paper cut to the standard size (17"x22") for business papers (bond and ledger): e.g., 20 pounds. Similar to basis weight of other grades of paper.

substrate Any material that can be printed on, such as paper, plastic and fabric.

subtractive primaries Yellow, magenta and cyan, the hues used for process color printing inks.

sulphate pulp Paper pulp made from wood chips cooked under pressure in a solution of caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and sodium sulphide. Known as kraft.

sulphite pulp Paper pulp made from wood chips cooked under pressure in a solution of bisulphite of lime (calcium bisulphite).

supercalender In papermaking, a calender stack, separate from the papermaking machine, with alternate metal and resilient rolls, used to produce a high finish on paper.

supercell In digital halftone imaging, a combination of subgroups of halftone dots that are handled as a single group.

surprint In photomechanics, exposure from a second negative or flat superimposed on an exposed image of a previous negative or flat.

SWOP Specifications for Web Offset Publications.

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tack In printing inks, the property of cohesion between particles; the separation force of ink needed for proper transfer and trapping on multicolor presses. A tacky ink has high separation forces and can cause surface picking or splitting of weak papers.

tackoscope See inkometer.

TIFF (tagged image file format) A file format for graphics suited for representing scanned images and other large bitmaps. TIFF is a neutral format designed for compatibility with all applications. TIFF was created specifically for storing grayscale images, and it is the standard format for scanned images such as photographs — now called TIFF/IT.

TB (terabyte) One trillion bytes.

text The body matter of a page or book, as distinguished from the headings.

text paper Grades of uncoated paper with textured surfaces.

thermal dye sublimation Like thermal printers, except pigments are vaporized and float to desired proofing stock. Similar to Thermal Dye Diffusion Transfer, or D2T2.

thermal transfer printers These printers use a transfer sheet that carries ink in contact with the paper or transparency and a heated printhead driven by digital data that touches the transfer sheet to transfer images to the right points on the page.

thermomechanical pulp In papermaking, made by steaming wood chips prior to and during refining, producing a higher yield and stronger pulp than regular groundwood.

thixotropy False body in inks.

tints Various even tone areas (strengths) of a solid color.

tissue overlay A thin, translucent paper placed over artwork (mostly mechanicals) for protection; used to indicate color break and corrections.

tolerances The specification of acceptable variations in register, density dot size, plate or paper thickness, concentration of chemicals and other printing parameters.

toner In digital printing, imaging material also called digital inks, used in plateless printing systems like electrophotography, magnetography, ion or electron deposition and laser printers. In inks, dye used to tone printing inks, especially black.

tone reproduction The tonal relationship between all the elements of a reproduction.

toning See scum.

tooth A characteristic of paper, a slightly rough finish, which permits it to take ink readily

transfer tape A peel and stick tape used in business forms.

transparency Color positive film.

transparent copy In photography, illustrative copy such as a color transparency or positive film through which light must pass in order for it to be seen or reproduced.

transparent ink A printing ink which does not conceal the color beneath. Process inks are transparent so that they will blend to form other colors.

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

trapping In printing, the ability to print a wet ink film over previously printed ink. Dry trapping is printing wet ink over dry ink. Wet trapping is printing wet ink over previously printed wet ink. In prepress, refers to how much overprinting colors overlap to eliminate white lines between colors in printing. See chokes and spreads.

trim marks In printing, marks placed on the copy to indicate the edge of the page.

trim size The final size of one printed image after the last trim is made.

twin-wire machine In papermaking, a fourdrinier paper machine with two wires instead of one producing paper with less two-sidedness.

two-sheet detector In printing presses, a device for stopping or tripping the press when more than one sheet attempts to feed into the grippers.

two-sidedness In paper, the property denoting difference in appearance and printability between its top (felt) and bottom (wire) sides.

type gauge In composition, a printer's tool calibrated in picas and points used for type measurement.

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UCA (Undercolor Addition) In process color printing, used with GCR, UCA is ink added in shadow areas to increase color saturation.

UCR (UnderColor Removal) In process multicolor printing, color separation films are reduced in color in neutral areas where all three colors overprint and the black film is increased an equivalent amount in these areas. This improves trapping and can reduce makeready and ink costs.

UGRA test target A measure of image resolution and dot size on plates and in printing.

undercut In printing presses, the difference between the radius of the cylinder bearers and the cylinder body to allow for plate (or blanket) and packing thickness.

under-run Production of fewer copies than ordered. See overrun.

unit In multicolor presses, refers to the combination of inking, plate and impression operations to print each color. A 4-color press has 4 printing units each with its own inking, plate and impression functions.

UNIX A multiuser, multi-tasking operating system that runs on a wide variety of computer systems from micro to mainframe. UNIX was written in the C programming language. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

-up In printing, two-up, three-up, etc., refers to imposition of material to be printed on a larger size sheet to take advantage of full press capacity.

upper case Capital letters in type.

UV coating Liquid laminate bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. Environmentally friendly.

UV inks In printing, solventless inks that are cured by ultraviolet radiation. They are used extensively in screen printing, narrow web letterpress and flexographic printing.

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vacuum frame In platemaking, a vacuum device for holding copy and reproduction material in contact during exposure.

varnish A thin, protective coating applied to a printed sheet for protection or appearance. Also, in inkmaking, it can be all or part of the ink vehicle.

vehicle In printing inks, the fluid component which acts as a carrier for the pigment.

vellum finish In papermaking, a toothy finish which is relatively absorbent for fast ink penetration.

verso The left hand page of an open book.

VDT (video display terminal) A term for a computer monitor or display.

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

viscosity In printing inks, a broad term encompassing the properties of tack and flow.

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WAN (Wide Area Network) Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus. A collection of disparate, widely located and geographically isolated networks, connected by private or public communication lines.

warm color In printing, a color with a yellowish or reddish cast.

washup The process of cleaning the rollers, form or plate, and sometimes the ink fountain of a printing press.

waste A term for planned spoilage.

waterless plate In platemaking, printing plate with silicone rubber coating in non-image areas, that is printed on an offset press without dampening solution.

waterless printing In offset, printing on a press using special waterless plates and no dampening system.

watermark A distinctive design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be easily seen by holding the paper up to a light.

web A roll of paper used in web or rotary printing.

web press A press which prints on a roll of paper.

web tension The amount of pull or tension applied in the direction of travel of a web of paper by the action of a web press.

widow In composition, a single word or part of a word on a line by itself, ending a paragraph, or starting a page, frowned upon in good typography.

wire-o binding A continuous double series of wire loops run through punched slots along the binding side of a booklet. Allows the book to lay open flat.

wire side In papermaking, the side of a sheet next to the wire in manufacturing; opposite from felt or top side.

with the grain Folding or feeding paper into a press with the grain of the paper parallel to the blade of the folder or the axis of the impression cylinder.

woodcut An illustration in lines of varying thickness, cut in relief on plank-grain wood, for the purpose of making prints by a relief printing method like letterpress.

word processor A typewriter connected to a computerized recording medium to input, edit and output digital text data.

work-and-tumble To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn it over from gripper to back using the same side guide and plate to print the second side.

work-and-turn To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn it over from left to right and print the second side using the same gripper and plate but opposite side guide.

WORM (Write Once Read Many Times) A type of optical memory device.

wove paper Paper having a uniform unlined surface and a soft smooth finish.

wraparound plate In rotary letterpress, a thin one-piece relief plate which is wrapped around the press cylinder like an offset plate. Can be used for direct or indirect (offset) printing.

wrinkles Creases in paper occurring during printing. In inks, the uneven surface formed during drying.

wrong font In proofreading, the mark "WF" indicates a letter or figure of the wrong size or face.

WWW (World Wide Web) The highly inter-connected network of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which allow text, graphics, sound and video files to be displayed.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Means that what you see on the computer monitor is generally the same as what appears on the hard copy or film. Pronounced “wizzywig.”

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xerography An electrophotographic copying process that uses a corona charged photoconductor surface, electrostatic forces and dry or liquid toner to form an image.

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yellow Hue of a subtractive primary and a four-color process ink. It reflects red and green light and absorbs blue light.

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Definitions were derived from the following sources:

“Getting It Printed: How to work with printers and graphic imaging services to assure quality, stay on schedule, and control costs.” Third edition. By Mark Beach and Eric Kenly. North Light Books, 1999.

“Pocket Pal: Graphic Arts Production Handbook.” 18th edition. By International Paper. 2000. Available for purchase at http://ippocketpal.com/

Print USA, American printing services: a one stop printing resource for free printing information and printing quotes, http://www.printusa.com/glos.htm