FROM CONCEPTION TO COMPLETION
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions.
We have listed some common terms used in desktop Publishing and Printing that may help you understand the process a little better
ALIGNMENT:
The positioning of text within the page margins. Alignment can be flush left, flush right, justified or centred. Flush left and flush right are sometimes referred to as left justified and right justifed.
The positioning of text within the page margins. Alignment can be flush left, flush right, justified or centred. Flush left and flush right are sometimes referred to as left justified and right justifed.
ASCENDER:
That portion of a lower case letter that rises above the letters x-height.
BIT MAP:
An array of pixels making up an image for screen display or device output. Also referred to as a 'paint-type' graphic
BLEED:
The part of the printed image that extends beyond the edge of the final page. The bleed ensures that the final image goes right tot he edge of the paper after binding and trimming.
CHOKE:
A method of color trapping in which a thin colored line is added to obscured areas of underlying objects. The line overlaps adjacent colors.
CMYK:
A subtractive color model made up of cyan(C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K). Used inmost full color commercial printing, CMYK is like CMY, but the addition of black (K) allows for true blacks and a winder tonal range.
COLOR SEPARATION:
The process of splitting the colors of a composite image into a number of separate greyscale images, one for each color channel in the original. In commercial printing, color separation is the process in which four separations (one for cyan, magenta, yeallow and black) are used to produce the four printing plates used in CMYK printing.
COMPOSITION:
The process of assembling characters, words, lines, and paragrahs, or of formatting typeset text, graphics, or other images into blocks or pages for reproduction by printing.
COMPOSITOR:
A person who sets type and performs the duties of Composition.
COPY:
The original material from which type will be set. This may be handwritten, typewritten or provided on floppy disk.
CROPPING:
The process of removing the unwanted portion of an image.
DESKTOP PUBLISHIP (DTP):
Using the tools in a desktop publishing application to format and layout text and graphics in a document. The desktop publishing application itself is referred to as a DTP.
DESCENDER:
That portion of a character that extends below the base line of the character.
DPI:
An abbreviation for DOTS PER INCH. Monitors and laser output devices are described as having a resolution of 300, 400, 600, 800, 1200 dpi. A monitor is electronically divided into rows of colored dots. A page from a Laser Output Device is virtually mapped into rows of laser created dots where the laser is either turned on or off thus producing an image.
EPS/EPSF:
Encapsulated Postcript File. A file format for importing, displaying, printing and exchanging Postscipt files which can include object-oriented and bitmapped images. In addition to Postscript data, a low resolution image (header Bitmap) is embedded in EPSF files for quick display on a program page. Therefore any manufacturers device or computer program with a Postscript interpreter can send/receive recognisable information to/from any other manufacturers device or computer program (a common Page Description Language).
GRAPHIC:
A line, oval, rectangle, square, or circle created using a software programs drawing tools, or a bit map, object oriented, or EPS format document imported into a publication from another publication.
GRAYSCALE:
An 8 bit color mode that stores and displays images using 256 shades of gray that range from black to white. Each color is defined as a single value between 0 and 255, where 0 is the darkest (black) and 255 is the lightest (W)
GUTTER:
the White space which is between columns on a page.
HALFTONE:
A continous tone image that has been converted into a series of tiny dots. Halftone images are required for reproducing continuous tone images on most printing presses.
HEADLINE:
The short lines of emphasised text that introduce detail information in the body text that follows.
IMAGE AREAS:
The area of a page inside the margins in which you put the text and graphics. (Objects can extend outside this area.)
IMAGESETTER:
A machine that produces line images, half tone images, and typographic composition on paper or on film.
IMPOSITION:
The process of grouping and arranging the pages of a publication into large sheets for printing, trimming and binding.
JUSTIFCATION:
The process of composing and adjusting line of type by adding space between the words and characters so that the lines are aligned on left and right margins.
KERN:
The process of subtracting space between two characters so that they appear closer together. This is usually done to improve the aesthetic appearance of most words that are set in all capitals especially in large display and headline texts.
KNOCKING OUT:
The process of removing obscured portions of an underlying image during printing. If an image is not knocked out, the colors from the overlapping objects interact to produce unwanted colors.
LEADING:
The distance of the base line of a line of type from the base line of the line below it, measured in points.
LETTERSPACING:
The addition of thin spaces between the letters in order to achieve the desired appearance of text, and increase legibility.
OVERPRINTING:
The process of deliberately printing overlapping colors. overprinting is used to compensate for the misregistration of color separations.
ORPHAN:
An element of type (such as a word or line) which leads into a larger block of type, but which has been left by itself at the end of a page or column. For instance, the first line of a paragraph, or a section head.
PASTE-UP:
Manual or electronic placement of text, illustration and artwork on a piece of art board or by a computerised page layout program.
PDF:
Portable Document Format. Developed by Adobe Systems for paperless publishing with Adobe Acrobat software.
PIXEL:
A picture element. A pixel is a colored dot that is the smallest part of a bitmap.
PPI:
Pixels Per Inch. A measure of bitmap or monitor resolution.
PRINTER'S MARKS:
Information placed on the film, such as crop marks, to help service bureaus and printing shops evaluate and print a publication.
PROCESS COLOR:
A method of reproducing full color images on a printing press using only four inks. the four inks are cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
PROOF:
A copy of typeset material used for proofreading, corrections and alterations.
REGISTRATION:
The alignment of different printing plates to produce one printed image. Because printing presses aren't consistently precise, variations in registration frequently occur. Even minute shifts can cause noticeable problems, resulting in white gaps between a letter and its colored background or blurred overlapping between distinct color areas.
RESOLUTION:
In bitmaps, a measure of the size of pixels or dots that compose a bitmap. In output devices, such as laser printers and monitors, resolution is a measure of the size of fots used to reproduce images. Maximum resolution refers to the smallest dot that an output device can produce. Resolution is measured is pixels per inch (ppi)and dots per inch (dpi).
REVERSE:
The technique of printing white or light coloured text on a black or dark background for emphasis.
SANS SERIF:
Describing a type face who characters do not have serifs.
SCREEN FONTS:
The font that is displayed on your screen, designed to match the printer font so that documents look the same on screen as they do when printed.
SERIF:
The tiny strokes at the end of a larger stroke, used to provide visula balance to the character shape.
SERVICE BUREAU:
A business that provides expertise and equipment to people who need to produce high quality professional publications. Service bureaus provide services such as imagesetting, scanning and proofing.
SPOT COLOUR:
A colour that is reproduced on a printing press using a single ink. Spot colour swatch books and inks are provided by companies such as PANTONE.
SPREAD:
A method of colour trapping in which a thin coloured line that overlaps adjacent colours is added to the edges of an object.
TIFF:
Tagged Image File Format. The world's most common bitmap image file storage format.
TRUETYPE FONTS:
Font that are scaleable and sometimes generated as bitmaps or soft fonts depending on the capabilities of the printer.
TYPE 1 FONTS:
The itnernational type standard for digital outlined type, available on almost every computer platform.
VECTOR GRAPHICS:
A method of creating graphics using points and lines, as opposed to bitmapped (raster) images. Synonmous with object oriented graphics. (Illustrator, freehand, Coreldraw).
WIDOW:
A single short line at the top of a page or column which is the end of a sentence or a paragraph. A single word or syllable standing as the last line of a paragraph. Typographically undesireable.
WYSIWYG:
What You See Is What You get. What you see on the screen is what you will get on the printed output, as accurately as the screen can render it.
X-HEIGHT:
The height of the lower case excluding any ascenders and descenders. Type faces may be designed with small or large x-heights.
SOURCES OF THIS MATERIAL:
We would like to thank John Magnick the author of the typesetting and the source "dtp-aus.com for their kind permission in allowing the use of some of their material.