 Glossary |
| A - D | E - K | L - Q | R - Z |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| lines per inch (lpi) - a measure of the frequency of a halftone screen (usually ranging from 55-200). Originally, halftones were made by placing an etched glass plate over an image and exposing it to produce dots. Lpi refers to the frequency of the horizontal and vertical lines. |
| logo - 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. |
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| MS Word - Microsoft word processing software used in the creation of text documents. This software is not suitable for use in layout. (See Quark Xpress, Adobe PageMaker) |
| MS PowerPoint - Microsoft slide/presentation software used in the creation of digital slide shows. This software is not suitable for use in layout. (See Quark Xpress, Adobe PageMaker) |
| MS Publisher - Microsoft layout software used to create documents for publishing. This software is not recommended by Printing Services. Although it is considered a better tool than MS Word/PowerPoint, far more efficient layout programs are Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign and Adobe PageMaker. |
| MAC - (Macintosh Computers) refers to a computer platform (language) used by apple, and Macintosh computers. |
| masthead - details of publisher and editorial staff usually printed on the cover. |
| matte - a coated printing paper with a dull surface. |
| Metal - offset printing, film ran from our 2400 dpi printer. |
| metallic ink - printing inks which produce an effect gold, silver, bronze or metallic colors. |
| mock up - the assembling of all elements, to form the printed image (shows the printer what the job should look like when it is complete). |
| montage - a single image formed from the assembling of several images. |
| multi binding - also known as "Saddle Stitching" consists of a booklet folded in half and "stitched," or stapled, down the fold. |
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| Negs - negatives representing each color of ink needed for the printing job, used in offset printing. |
| opacity - term used to describe the degree to which paper will show print through. |
| 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. |
| overprinting - printing over an area already printed. Contrast with knockout. |
| PC - (Personal Computer) refers to a computer platform (language) used by the Windows, Unix and Linux Operating systems. |
| PDF - (Portable Document Format) electronic document that can be output by any printer. |
| PageMaker - graphical layout software (created by Adobe) used for projects that will be printed. It is highly recommended that you use PageMaker or Quark Xpress for layout rather than MS Word or Publisher. |
| Pantone - a registered name for an ink color matching system. |
| parallel fold - a method of folding; eg two parallel folds will produce a six page sheet. |
| 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. Best associated with soft-cover/paperback books. |
| perforate - tiny holes punched into a sheet, often used for tear-off cards. |
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| PhotoShop - Adobe image manipulation and retouching software commonly used for color correction and "clean-up" of photos and artwork. |
| pixel - the smallest distinct unit of a bitmapped image displayed on a screen. If an item is considered "pixelated" the resolution is too low. |
| plates - metal plates used in the offset printing process. |
| plastic binding - similar technique to Spiral/Coil binding, however, it involves larger "teeth" and is more cost efficient. |
| plastic wrap - also known as Shrink Wrapping is used to protect shipped orders. |
| PMS - Pantone Matching System. A commonly used system for identifying specific ink colors. |
| 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. |
| PostScript - a page description language developed by Adobe Systems, often used when printing out circuit boards, or preflight jobs. |
| proof - a copy of the project obtained from laser or color printer, blueline, or composite color, for checking consistency and accuracy. |
| pull-down menus - also known as drop down menus, 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. |
