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University of Scranton Printing Glossary

This is a listing of some common and not so common terms that are used when dealing with printing in general. (This page is very long so please use the • top link at the bottom of each section to return to this section) Note: that some of the glossary terms have specific reference to or from the source and may not be industry standard; however, in some situations we have added a line or two in corection. We trust you will find the general information useful.

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ASCII
Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange; pronounced "ASK-ee." A code in which the numbers from 0 to 127 represent text and control characters. See also Text-only document.
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Bleed
The result of placing a graphic on the page so that the print-ing on one or more sides extends off the page edge. Use of bleeds in design requires the use of stock that is wider than the finished size to which the publication will be trimmed
Blueline proof
A copy of a document to be printed that is produced by making a photographic print from the negative that will produce the printing press plate. Bluelines are the final proof available before production begins and are produced to verify the correct placement of graphics and the correct separation of ink colors. Costs of bluelines are typically included in cost estimates for any jobs requiring them. Authors alterations requiring new bluelines will result in additional costs.
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Desktop publishing
Is neither "desktop" nor "publishing." The term is used to describe the use of computer hardware and software to generate materials to be printed on presses or duplicated on copiers. Most printers use Apple or IBM compatible equipment (CPU's, scanners, laser printers) with Aldus PageMaker, QuarkXPress and a variety of peripheral software. MS-DOS WordPerfect files can be imported for publication development.
Document
Whatever you create with application programs - a file you can open, modify, view or save. Compare File.
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File
Any named, ordered collection of information stored on a disk. Application programs and operating systems are files. You also make a file when you create a document, give it a name, and save it on a disk.
Flush left (ragged right)
Flush left is a paragraph alignment in which the text abuts the left margin and has a ragged right margin - sometimes referred to simply as "left" or "left justified." See also Justify.
Flush right (ragged left)
Flush right is a paragraph alignment in which the text abuts the right margin and has a ragged left margin - sometimes referred to simply as "right" or "right justified." See also Justify.
Font
The same meaning as Typeface to traditional typesetters. A collection of letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and other typographical symbols with a consistent appearance, size and style; the size and style can be changed readily
Font size
Normally, font size reflects the space between the tallest ascender and lowest descender in a given font. Exact font description criteria vary according to the font designer. Font sizes are measured and described in points, with each point equal to 1/72 of an inch. This sentence is set in 9-point type while the body type on Page 10 is set in 10-point type. See also Point.
Format
Format refers to the overall ordering and layout of material. Paragraph formats usually include alignment, margins and tab settings. Character formats include font, type style, font size and other style attributes.
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Galley proof
A copy of the text of a publication before it has been arranged in page formats. Gallies are the first proof stage and are used to verify correct keyboarding. Costs of galley proofing are normally included in cost estimates for jobs requiring them. Keyboarding errors by the printer are converted free of charge while author's alterations are billed based on the time and materials needed to make them.
Graphics
Information presented in the form of pictures, line art or other non-text images. Compare Text.
Gutter
The white space between columns. A standard gutter width is one pica, or 12 points (0.167").
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Hairline
A .25-point or thinner rule is called a hairline. Designers using University equipment should always specify a rule weight of at least .5 pts. See also Rule.
Halftone
Black-and-white photographs are typically printed as dot patterns, enabling proper contrast and detail (compare with a xerographic copy of a photo). The dot patterns are produced by photographing the photograph through two dot-pattern screens. The greater the number of dots available in the screen, the higher the resolution of the final product will be. University standards usually mandate the use of at least 150 lines per inch (lpi) screens for halftones in publications that will be used off campus. Costs of producing halftones vary from printer to printer; the University Print Shop charges $5.00 per halftone while commercial printers often charge as much as $30.00 per halftone.
Hard return
Made by pressing the return key. A hard return, or carriage return, creates a line break and identifies the end of a paragraph.
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Justify
To justify a line of text is to fit the line to a box or column width, so that the text will have uniform left and right margins.
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Leading
Pronounced "LED-ing" - the space between lines.
Linespacing
A traditional typesetting term for leading.
Linotronic/Linotype
Brand name of the Raster Image Processor company that has become synonymous with high-resolution laser printing. The University Print Shop operates a Linotronic 200P, which is capable of generating resolutions up to 1,700 dots per inch on paper or film media. Cost of producing Linotronic output is $5.00 per 8 1/2" x 11" positive on paper; $6.00 per 8 1/2" x 11" negative on film.
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Match print
Match prints are composite photographs of color separations made by exposing film through the four negatives of the separation. Match prints represent the best pre-press method of verifying the trueness of color separations. Their use incurs an additional expense of $10 - $25 per print.
Mechanical
The artwork and type of a future publication prepared in hard-copy, paper media. When the mechanical has finished its development, it is camera ready. See also Camera-ready.
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Negative
Photographic film, prepared either from the desktop publishing file or by photographing the mechanical, used to create a printing plate that will be mounted on a press for printing.
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Orientation
The position of text on a page. "Tall" (portrait) orientation means the text is taller than it is wide. "Wide" (landscape) orientation means the text is wider than it is tall.
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Page proof
A copy of the pages of a publication with the text materials in position and with indications of where other graphic elements will appear. One set of page proofs is normally included in cost estimates of projects which require them. New proofs needed as a result of customer changes are billed on a time-and-materials basis.
Pasteup
The process of placing text and graphics in position on the mechanical.
Perfect binding - Any of several processes wherein glue is applied to the edges of collated sets to affix those sheets at the common side so that the set may be paged through, as in a book. Printing Services provides on-campus perfect binding using a cloth tape binding for documents produced on the high-speed duplicator ranging in thickness from 15 sheets of bond paper to 125 sheets of bond paper. Other forms of perfect binding are available commercially, but require more time and expense.
Pica
Pica is a base unit of measurement in American typography, equal to 1/6th of an inch, used in composition and typesetting for describing sizes other than type characters, e.g., page width, gutters, margins, etc. See also Point.
Plates
Images of the material to be printed that are produced by passing high intensity light through a negative onto a specially prepared metal or paper sheet. The resulting plate is placed on the press and functions by transferring ink onto a rubber blanket that, in turn, transfers the ink onto the stock (paper) that is the publication.
PMSColor
Pantone Mixing System (PMS) is the most popular standard for describing the rainbow of ink colors that can be produced for publications. Each varying shade of a color is identified by its corresponding number. The University's official purple, for example, is identified and referenced as PMS 267. About a half dozen "parent" colors (combinations of which produce all the others) are available at little additional cost. Mixing costs for other colors vary from printer to printer; the University Print Shop charges $15.00 to mix a new color. See also Washup.
Point
Standard unit of measure used to specify type sizes. One point is 1/72 inch (approx. .013837 inch). This text is set in 9-point type while the text material on Page 10 is set in 10-point type.
Positive
Photographic film used to create a printing plate that contains an image of the page in which the dark and light areas of the page match the original. See also Negative.
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Ragged right, Ragged left
See Flush right, Flush left.
Registration mark
Marks, printed in the page margin, that show the printer where to align color overlays or separations in the publication.
Resolution
Refers to the accuracy of reproduction and distinctness of visual elements, defined in dots per inch (dpi). The more dots per inch, the finer the resolution. The resolution of the Macintosh screen and ImageWriter is 72 dpi, the LaserWriter prints at 300 dpi, and Printing Services' Linotronic 200P prints up to 1,700 dpi.
Reverse type
Reverse is a descriptive term used to describe light letters on a dark background.
Rules
Vertical and horizontal rules are lines that are used as graphic elements on a typeset page. Rules smaller that one-half point should not be set unless the document will be printed on a high-resolution output device. See also Hairline.
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Saddle stitching
Stapling at the fold that creates a bound set of sheets, as in a newsletter of more than four pages. While universal definitions do not exist, a newsletter usually becomes a booklet when a heavier stock is used for the outside pages as a cover.
Sans Serif
Without serifs. This text is set in Galliard, which is the University's official font and one of the many fonts with serifs. Helvetica is an example of a sans serif font family. The Helvetica M looks like this: M. See also Serif.
Scanned graphic
A bit-mapped graphic created using hardware that converts a two- or three-dimensional image to a collection of dots and stores it in a file format such as TIFF so an electronic publishing application can read the graphic document directly from the disk.
Scanner
A hardware device that reads information from a photograph or other graphic and converts it into a computer-readable bit-mapped image.
Screen
Screens of varying percentages (size and density of dots) are often used to highlight text areas through overprinting. Screens are readily available in ten percent increments, can be ordered on several days' lead time in five percent increments, and can be specially manufactured on several weeks' notice in one percent increments. Experience thus far indicates that screens applied to text via desktop publishing applications tend to reproduce poorly. It is therefore recommended that areas to be screened be clearly marked for mechanical application of screens in the manual stripping process. See also Halftone.
Separations
The four screens corresponding to the percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow and black used to define colors that are used to create the final printed colors, usually for a color photograph.
Stripping
Positioning negatives for the purpose of creating printing plates.
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Text format
The way text looks as defined by its type specifications.
Text-only document
Text created and saved in one software application, without type specifications or other formatting, for later transfer and formatting in a different application. Text-only documents can be read directly from disk for electronic document preparation applications. Text of this type is sometimes called ASCII text.
Typeface
See Font and Font size.
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Version
A number indicating the release edition of a particular piece of software.
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Washup
The process of cleaning one color of ink from the rollers and other parts of an offset press in preparation for running a different color. Costs for washups vary according to press sizes and the amount of time required; the University Print Shop charges $15-20 per washup as a part of printing a job requiring washup. See also PMSColor.
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