Glossary
A
A sheets: ISO paper sizes based on metric dimensions. The ISO standard is used everywhere except North America for determining standard trim sizes.
Accordion fold: Zigzag type of fold in a sheet of paper where two or more parallel folds open in the manner of an accordion, permitting the paper to be extended to its full breadth with a single pull. Also called a fan fold.
Agricultural fibers: Fiber harvested from tree-free organic sources that are grown specifically for use in paper production and often bearing the label “tree-free.”
Agricultural residues: Fibers recovered from annual crops usually planted as food crops or for commercial use (such as corn, sugar cane, and wheat) that is used to make paper.
Aqueous coating: A water-based coating that is applied at the end of a press run to protect a printed piece against moisture, dirt, and scuffing.
Asymmetry: Elements that when placed on opposite sides of a page, line, or plane are not symmetrical.
B
B sheets: ISO paper sizes slightly larger than A sheets. The ISO standard is used everywhere except North America for determining standard trim sizes.
Bar code: A series of horizontal or vertical parallel lines representing a code that can be optically read and interpreted by a bar code scanner.
Barrel fold: Fold style where the outer edge of each panel or page is folded in toward the other resulting in six panels or pages. Also called roll fold.
Baseline: A horizontal line on which type sits.
Basis weight: In the U.S. and Canada, the weight, in pounds, of a ream 500 sheets) of paper cut to basic size.
Bitmap: Computer image composed of pixels.
Blanket: Rubber-coated pad mounted on a cylinder of an offset press that receives the inked image from the plate and transfers it to the paper surface.
Bleed: A printed area that extends beyond the trimmed edge of a printed piece. Bleed areas generally range from 1/8” to 1/4” (3.175 mm to 6.35 mm).
Bleeds are produced by printing a piece on a sheet of paper larger than the trim size of the final piece and then cutting away the edges.
Blister pack: Packaging mounted on a card and encased under a plastic dome.
Blueline: A photographic contact print made from plate-ready negatives used as a proof to show positioning of images, cropping, and page sequence. Also called a Dylux or brownline.
Board paper: see paperboard
Body copy: see text
Boldface: Type that is darker and heavier than the rest of the text with which it is used.
Bond: Grade of paper used for photocopying, envelopes, office correspondence, and flyers.
Brightness: The amount of light reflectivity of a given paper.
Bristol: General term for stock 6 points or thicker with a basis weight between 90# and 200# (200–500 gsm). Used for index cards, file folders, and postcards.
Brownline: see blueline
Browser: Software program that allows users to find and decode encrypted documents such as Web pages.
Bulking dummy: A dummy assembled from the paper specified for a printing job.
Butt: To join two elements edge to edge.
C
C sizes: ISO paper sizes with correct dimensions for folders and envelopes for items trimmed to A sizes.
Camera ready: Term describing an image or layout that is ready for print reproduction.
Carbon dioxide: A heavy colorless, odorless gas (associated with global climate change) that results from the combustion of carbon found in organic materials.
Case bind: Binding that uses glue to hold signatures to a case made of binder board covered with paper, plastic, fabric, or leather.
Caption: A word, phrase, or sentence that is placed in close proximity to a photograph, illustration, or other image as a means of clarifying, describing, or identifying it. Also called a cutline.
Cast-coated paper: Coated paper with a high-gloss finish achieved by pressing the paper against a metal drum while the clay coating is still wet.
Character: All items on the keyboard, including alphabet letters, numbers, and punctuation.
Chipboard: Solid cardboard used in packaging and for industrial purposes.
Chlorine: A chemical used in the bleaching process to give paper its white appearance and to remove lignin.
Choke: Slightly reducing an image to create a trap.
Cromalin: Color proofing system made from layered colored films exposed from the job’s negatives.
CMYK: Stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). The primary ink colors that are combined on press or as printed digital output to produce a full range of colors.
Coarse screen: Halftone screen that is less than 100 lpi. Most commonly used for printing on newspaper, fabric, and other rough or highly absorbent surfaces.
Coated paper: Paper with a smooth and sometimes glossy finish created by applying a clay coating to the surface.
Collateral: Ancillary print material used to support an advertising campaign.
Color bars: Strip of colors printed on the edge of four-color process proofs and press sheets to check registration of all colors and to evaluate ink density.
Color break: Where one color stops and another begins.
Color key: Color proofing system made from layered colored films exposed from the job’s negatives.
Column: Blocks of type set at the same width.
Comb binding: Binding a publication by inserting the teeth of a flexible plastic comb through holes in a stack of paper.
Condensed type: Type that is narrower than surrounding text.
Continuous-tone image: A photograph or illustration with a range of shades not made up of halftone dots.
Converter: A business that does finishing work on a printed piece, such as making boxes, bags, or envelopes.
Cover stock: Fine printing paper with a basis weight or grammage that is heavier than text or book weight papers.
Creep: Where the middle pages of a folded signature extend slightly beyond the outside pages. Also called push out or thrust.
Crop: Trimming part of a photograph or illustration so that undesirable or unnecessary elements are eliminated.
Crop marks: Marks placed on the edges of a mechanical to indicate where a printed piece should be trimmed. Also called trim marks.
Crop marks are located outside of the final image area and indicate where a piece should be trimmed.
Crossovers: Where a printed area that appears on two-page spread crosses over the gutter. Also called gutter bleed.
Care must be taken when printing and binding a publication to ensure that crossovers match up on two-page spreads.
Cutline: see caption
Deboss: To produce a recessed impression on the surface of a paper by pressing it between two dies.
Deckle edge: The edge of paper left ragged as it comes from the papermaking machine.
De-inking: The process of removing ink and other contaminants from collected paper.
Demographics: Statistical data about categories of consumers—e.g., gender, occupation, family size, income, and marital status.
Density: The thickness of a layer of ink.
Descender: The part of a lowercase letter that extends below its baseline as in the letters g, j, p, and y.
Die: Sharp metal rules mounted on a board for making diecuts, or a solid metal block used for stamping foil or an impression on paper.
Diecut: A decorative or unusual cut made in paper with a metal die.
Display type: Type that is larger than text type and used to grab attention. Display type usually conveys a mood or feeling and is not intended to be read in a large body of text.
Direct mail: Form of advertising that uses person-to-person communication by contacting individuals through the postal system.
Dot gain: When halftone dots print larger on paper than they are on films or plates, they reduce detail and lower contrast. Uncoated papers tend to cause more dot gain than coated papers. Also called dot spread or press gain.
dpi (dots per inch): Used to measure the resolution of a scanned image. Higher dpi produces higher resolution and more detail.
Drawdown: Ink samples specified for a job and applied to the paper specified for the job.
Dry mount: Mounting art or other display materials on a rigid board using heat and pressure rather than wet adhesive.
Dry trapping: Printing an ink or varnish over another layer of ink or varnish after the first layer has dried.
Dull finish: Flat finish on coated paper
Duotone: Halftone made of two colors.
Dylux: see blueline
E
Elemental chlorine-free (ECF): A label that indicates fibers have been bleached without elemental chlorine and is instead made with chlorine derivatives such as chlorine dioxide (ClO2).
Emboss: To produce a raised impression on the surface of paper by pressing it between two dies.
Engraving: Printing method using a metal plate with an image cut into its surface.
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript): Computer file format used for placing images or graphics in documents.
Etched plate: Metal plate that has been etched so that its surface can be used for printing.
Extended typeface: Type that is wider than surrounding text.
Fan fold: see accordion fold
Felt side: Side of the paper exposed to the felt blanket during the papermaking process. The felt side is considered to be the smoothest side of the paper.
Fifth color: A spot or match color added on press to a four-color print run.
FIM (facing identification mark): A machine-detectable series of vertical bars printed in the upper corner of a business reply card or envelope that allows the U.S. Postal System to automatically cancel letter mail.
FIMs allow the US Postal Service to automatically cancel business reply cards and letters.
Fine screen: Halftone screen that is 100 lpi or higher. Commonly used for printing on fine printing papers with a smooth, relatively nonabsorbent surface.
Finish: Surface characteristics of paper. Examples of finishes include laid, linen, and vellum.
Flexography: Method of printing on a web press with rubber or soft plastic plates.
Flowlines: (also called thresholds) A horizontal measure that divides a page or an area of space creating alignment points for content.
Flier: Advertising medium that is usually a single 8 1/2” 11” (215.9 279.4 mm) page.
Flood: To print a sheet completely with an ink or varnish.
Flush: A term indicating that type shouldn’t be indented but should be set vertically, aligned with the margin.
Foil stamp: Where foil and a heated die is stamped onto paper to form a printed impression.
Folio: The page number and other copy in the lower portion of a page, typically a title or issue date if it’s a periodical.
Font: Equipment or software that lets a printing device print a specific typeface of type family.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): An independent third-party certifier of sustainably harvested virgin fiber and mixed-use recycled content. www.fsc.org
Form: see signature
Four-color process: Method of printing that uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black to reproduce full-color images. see CMYK
FPO: Stands for “For Position Only.” FPOs are stand-in replicas of imagery that will be printed. They are typically low-resolution (low-res) versions of high-resolution (high-res) images that are temporarily placed in a digital document to show how an image should be sized and cropped. When the job is printed, the low-res images are replaced with the high-res equivalents.
French fold: Multiple fold where the paper is first folded in half in one direction, then folded in half again, perpendicular to the first fold.
G
Ganging: A cost-saving technique where a number of different items are reproduced at the same time, as in ganging several items on the same sheet of paper or separating several items at the same percentage.
Gathered signatures: Signatures assembled next to each other in the binding process.
Gathered signatures are bound side by side.
Gatefold: A folding style where the outer edges fold inward to meet in the gutter, and then folded again at the point where they meet to form eight panels or pages.
GIF or .gif (Graphics Interchange Format): An 8-bit, low-memory option for posting images online.
Grade: A term used to distinguish between various qualities of printing papers. Examples of grades include premium and grades 1 through 5 for coated papers.
Grammage: The European and Asian method of measuring paper weight by representing the gram weight of one square meter of paper, expressed as grams per square meter or gsm.
Graphic arts: The trades, industries, and professions related to designing and printing on paper and other substrates.
Gravure: Printing process where the matter to be printed is etched into the printing surface. Also called intaglio.
Grayscale image: A continuous-tone black-and-white image such as a photograph or illustration.
Grid: The invisible framework on which a page is designed.
Gripper edge: The leading edge of a sheet of paper clamped by metal grippers as it is pulled through the printing press, typically about 3/8” (9.525 mm). Also called the gripper margin.
Grippers: The press mechanism that draws the paper through the cylinders of the press.
Gutter: The white space between columns of type or between pages on a two-page spread.
Gutter bleed: see crossover
Hairline: Minute amount of space used to describe a thin rule or close register.
Halftone: Reproducing a continuous tone image by photographing it through a fine screen to convert the image into a series of dots.
Halftone dot: Units in a halftone that, by their various sizes, re-create a continuous tone image.
A halftone screen allows a continuous tone image to print by converting it into a series of dots.
Haze: see scum
Headline: A sentence, phrase, word, or group of words set in large, bold type above the text on a page.
Hickey: A spot or imperfection on a printed piece that occurs during the print run because of a speck of dust or other particle on the press interfered with the ink’s application on paper.
High-res: A digital image with a resolution of 200 dpi or more.
Holdout: see ink holdout
Holography: Producing the appearance of a three-dimensional image by using a laser to overlay embossed images onto film and then onto paper.
Hue: A specific color.
I
Image: Visual counterpart or likeness of an object, person, or a scene produced as an illustration or photograph.
Imagesetter: A device for outputting proofs and similar printed images or printing plates but not intended for printing multiple copies.
Imposition: An arrangement of pages on a printed sheet that enables them to be in the correct order when the sheet is folded and trimmed.
Impressions per hour (iph): A means of measuring the speed of a press.
Imprint: To print new copy on a previously printed sheet.
Indicia: Recognized by the U.S. postal system as a means of showing that postage has been paid. Mailers using an indicia must have a bulk mailing permit.
Indicias are printed on an envelope where a stamp would normally go to show that postage has been paid. A properly designed indicia identifies the user, their permit number, and the classification or rate code of the mailing.
Industrial papers: Papers produced for uses other than printing. Examples include kraft paper and chipboard.
Ink fountain: Printing press mechanism that stores and supplies ink to the printing plate or other image carrier. Rollers then transfer the ink from the fountain to the plate.
Ink holdout: Characteristic of a paper that prevents it from absorbing ink, allowing ink to dry on the paper’s surface. Also called holdout.
Inline: Any operation tied to the printing process and done on press such as varnishing or folding.
Intact Forests: see old growth
Internet: A network of linked computers and networks that use the same set of communications protocols.
Intaglio: see gravure
ISO standards: Metric measurement system for paper sizes in Europe and Asia.
Italic: Type style with characters slanted to the right. Used to emphasize a word or passage.
J
Jogging: To straighten or align the edges of a stack of paper by jostling them.
JPEG: File format designated by the Joint Photographic Experts Group for image compression. JPEGs are frequently used for placing imagery in websites and online applications.
K
Kerning: Adjusting the amount of space between letters or characters so that letter spacing appears to be in balance. See letterspacing
After kerning. The space has been adjusted between the letterforms so that spacing appears more balanced.
Kiss die cut: A process used for peel-off labels where a die cut is made through the face materials but not the backing.
Kraft: Strong paper made from unbleached wood pulp that is often used for paper bags and wrapping paper.
L
Laminate: A means of bonding plastic film to a sheet of paper using heat and pressure.
Leading: The amount of vertical space between lines of type.
Lenticular printing: Printing process involving animated effects that flip back and forth as the viewing angle changes.
Letterpress: The process of printing from an inked raised surface.
Letterspacing: Modifying the distance between the letters in a word. Also called tracking or kerning.
Line art: A black-and-white image that is not continuous tone or does not include any grays. Also called line drawing or line copy.
Line count: see screen ruling
Lithography: The process of printing from a flat surface (such as a smooth stone or metal plate) that has been treated so that the image area is ink receptive and the nonimage area is ink repellant.
Logo: A unique design, symbol, or typographic treatment that represents a company or brand.
Logotype: A logo comprising typographic forms, usually a unique typographic treatment of a company’s name.
Low-res: A digital image with a resolution of 100 dpi or less.
lpi (lines per inch): A means of measuring the fineness of a halftone screen by measuring the number of dots per inch in a halftone screen.
M
Makeready: Getting a printing press ready for a print run by filling the ink fountains, adjusting the paper feeder, etc.
Margin: White space at the top, bottom, and to the left and right of a body of type.
Masthead: The name of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical displayed on the cover. Also used to describe the area where a periodical and its publisher’s name, address, and staff credits appear.
Match color: Flat ink colors that are matched to swatches. Also called spot color.
Matchprint: A digital proof that uses toner to replicate the process colors. Matchprints are close to cromalin color accuracy but are markedly less expensive.
Mask: A means of isolating a portion of an image from its surrounding area so that it becomes a silhouette or outline image.
Matte: A flat, not glossy, finish on a paper or photograph.
Mechanical: A document with type, graphic elements, and imagery in position.
Moiré: Undesirable patterns in printed half-tones caused by improperly aligned screens.
A Moiré often occurs when a printed halftone is screened again as it is made into a halftone.
Mottle: Spotty, uneven ink absorption resulting in blotchy image reproduction.
Multicolor printing: Printing with more than one color but fewer than four colors.
N
Native file format: A file saved in the application in which it was created. Native file formats can’t be transferred from one application to the next.
Nested signature: Where signatures are assembled inside one another before binding.
This drawing illustrates the assembly of three nested signatures prior to binding.
Newsletter: Information sheet or several sheets usually styled like a small newspaper.
O
Observational research: A research technique where the subjects are observed in their natural settings either with or without their knowledge
Offset lithography: Mostly commonly used method of printing where an image on a plate is offset onto a rubber blanket cylinder which, in turn, transfers the image to a sheet of paper.
Old growth: Also called intact forests are natural forests that have been allowed to grow naturally over a long period of time (in excess of 100 years).
Opacity: Characteristic of paper that prevents printing on one side from showing through on the other.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Automatic computer input process where a scanner reads printed characters and symbols and converts them to electronic data.
Outline image: see silhouette image
Overrun: Excess production to compensate for spoilage, future requests for materials, and other unanticipated needs.
P
Paperboard: Index stock over 110# and cover stock over 80# or 200 gsm commonly used in packaging. Also called board paper.
PDF (Portable Document Format): Digital file format that allows documents to be viewed and printed independent of the application used to create them.
Perfect binding: A method of binding magazines, books, and other publications in which the signatures are glued to the cover and held together with a strip of adhesive.
Pica: Unit of typographic measure equal to 0.166 inch (4.218 mm).
PICT: Macintosh image file format.
Preconsumer waste: Refers to materials that include trip or scrap from the manufacturing process and printers, or even overruns that are reused to make new products.
Prepress: Preparing a job for print reproduction by performing necessary functions such as separating, color correcting, and impositioning the pages.
PMS: Stands for Pantone Matching System, a means of specifying match or spot colors and their ink formulations.
Point: A typographic measurement system used for measuring the height of type, thickness of rules, and leading.
Postconsumer waste: End product that has reached the consumer used and then collected to make new material rather than end up in a landfill or incinerator. This is what is referred to when most people think of recycled paper.
PostScript: Computer language that allows digital files to be printed on desktop printers and imagesetters.
Press gain: see dot gain
Pressure-sensitive label: A label with an adhesive backing that can be peeled off, and the label applied to another surface by pressure.
Printer font: A font that allows a printing device to output a typeface.
Printer’s spreads: Pages that are set up so they are impositioned exactly where they will be when a publication is folded and printed.
When a four-page signature is set up as printer’s spreads, pages 2 and 3, and pages 1 and 4 face each other.
Printing plate: A surface carrying an image to be printed.
Processed chlorine-free (PCF): A label used to refer to recycled fiber that was not bleached using chlorine or chlorine derivatives but that may have been bleached using chlorine during the paper’s initial production and therefore may not be totally chlorine free.
Process color: The inks used in four-color process printing. Ink colors consist of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
Proof: A test sheet made to represent how a final printed product will look so that flaws may be corrected before the piece is printed.
Psychographics: A technique that seeks to identify motivating factors for various groups of people. Often based on demographic data.
Q
Quadratone: Halftone comprising four colors, usually to create a rich tonal range but not comprising the four process colors (cyan, yellow, magenta, and black).
R
Raster image processing (RIP): Converting digital files to bitmapped images that can be output on an imagesetter. The rocess is described as “ripping a file.”
Reader’s spreads: Pages that are set up as they will be read (left- and right-hand pages side by side.)
Ream: Five hundred sheets of paper.
Recycled paper: Paper coming from either post- or preconsumer waste. Recycled pulp can be made into the same variety and quality of paper stock that is made from virgin fiber.
Reflective art: Photographs, illustrations, and other imagery that is scanned or viewed as an item that reflects light. Also called reflective copy, hard copy, or reflective imagery.
Register: When each sheet enters the press from precisely the same position ensuring that all colors are in “register.”
Register marks: Targetlike symbol placed in exactly the same spot for each color plate so that proper alignment of the colors will occur on press.
Register marks help printers keep colors in alignment as a piece passes through the different ink stations on a press.
Resolution: The quantification of print quality using the number of dots per inch in electronic imaging.
Reverse: A white or noncolor image against a dark, inked, or colored background.
RGB: Stands for red, green, and blue, additive primary colors that are used to create a full range of color as projected light on a computer screen.
Roll fold: see barrel fold
Rule: A line set as part of typesetting.
S
Saddle stitch: A method of binding by stitching through the centerfold of nested signatures.
Saturation: The degree to which a color is pure and free of dilution from black, white, or gray.
Scanner: A device that converts images on film or paper into digital information.
Score: To crease or indent paper along a straight line so it folds more easily and accurately.
Screen font: Font that can be viewed on a computer monitor.
Screen printing: see silk screen
Screen ruling: Number of rows or lines of dots per inch in a screen for making a screen tint or halftone. Also called line count, screen frequency, screen size, or screen value.
Screw and post binding: Binding that secures pages with a bolt that is inserted through a drilled hole and secured with a post on the opposite side.
Scum: A thin haze of ink that appears in on-image areas on a printed sheet. Also called haze.
Separations: Reproducing a color image by dividing it into four negatives, one each for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
Serigraphy: see silk screen
Server: A computer connected to the Internet that allows pages or sites that you have placed on it to be called up or displayed by users browsers.
Sheetfed: A printing process utilizing sheets of paper rather than rolls.
Shingling: The allowance made during page impositioning to compensate for creep. Also called stair stepping or progressive margins.
Show through: Areas where an image printed on one side of a sheet can be seen on the opposite side. Show through occurs when the paper is too thin for the ink application.
Shrink-wrap: A method of securely wrapping packages, loose items, or products in clear plastic film.
Side stitch: To bind by stapling through pages along one edge. Also called side wire.
Signature: A printed sheet folded at least once, possibly many times, to become part of a book, magazine, or other publication. Signatures are commonly made up of four, eight, sixteen, or thirty-two pages. Also called a form.
Silk screen: A method of printing where ink is forced through a stencil adhered to a screen. Also called serigraphy or screen printing.
Silhouette halftone: A halftone image from which the background has been removed, usually through masking. Also called outline halftone.
Small caps: Capital letters smaller than the capital letters in a typeface.
Spoilage: Paper that is recycled as a result of on-press mistakes and accidents.
Spot color: see match color
Spread: Slightly enlarging an image to create a trap.
Stet: Latin for “let it stand.” Proofreader’s or editor’s indication that an item marked for correction should remain as it was before the correction.
Supercalendered: Paper that has passed through metal and fiber rollers to produce a smooth, glossy finish.
SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications): Recommended printing specifications published every few years by a committee of graphic arts professionals.
Symmetry: The correspondence in form so that parts on opposite sides of a page, line, or plane appear alike.
T
Text: The body of written material on a page or document. Also called body copy.
Text paper: Fine printing papers with a basis weight or grammage that falls in-between cover and writing or bond weights.
Thermography: A method of printing where a raised impression is created by heat curing a blend of ink and resin.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): Used for placing images or graphics in documents created in word processing, page layout, or drawing programs.
Tint: see value
Tonal range: Difference between the darkest and lightest area of a continuous tone image.
Tonal compression: The reduction of the tonal range in an image to facilitate image reproduction.
Totally chlorine-free (TCF): A label that indicates fiber has been produced without the use of chlorine in the bleaching process or is unbleached.
Tracking: see letterspacing
Trademark: A slogan, name, or identifying symbol used to represent a company, product or brand.
Transparency: Photographic reproduction such as a 35mm slide that is produced with a camera on transparent film.
Transparent ink: Ink that allows for blending through overlapping colors. Example: four-color process inks.
Trap: Printing one ink over another so there is a slight overlap of colors in order to prevent a colorless gap between adjacent colors if they are slightly off register.
Tray: A relatively shallow folding carton with a bottom hinged to the wide side and end walls.
Tree-free: Includes paper products made from agricultural residues, nontree fibers and more recently products made from minerals and plastics.
Tritone: A halftone made from three colors.
Tube: A carton in the shape of a rectangular sleeve formed from a sheet of board that is folded over and glued against its edges.
Typeface: Design of alphabetic letters, numerals, and symbols unified by consistent visual properties. Typeface designs are identified by name, such as Helvetica or Garamond.
Type family: A range of style variations based on a single typeface design.
Type style: Modifications in a typeface that create design variety while maintaining the visual character of the typeface. These include variations in weight (light, medium or bold), width (condensed or extended), or angle (italic or slanted versus roman or upright).
U
Uncoated paper: Paper that has not been coated with clay.
Unit cost: The cost of one item in a print run arrived at by dividing the total cost of production by the number of pieces produced.
Unsharp masking: Adjusting an image digitally to make it appear as though it is in better focus.
UV or ultraviolet coating: Liquid applied to a sheet of paper that his heat cured with ultraviolet light, resulting in a hard, durable finish.
V
Value: The lightness or darkness of a color. Darker values where black is added are called shades. Lighter values where white is added are called tints or pastels.
Varnish: Coating applied to paper to give it a dull or glossy finish or to provide protection against scuffing and fingerprints.
Vector: Graphics that are made up using mathematical equations based on straight lines and curves. Vector graphics are infinitely scaleable.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): Refers to a broad class of organic gasses that includes vapors from solvents, inks, and gasoline and can react with other materials to form ozone, the major ingredient of smog.
Virgin fiber: Refers to paper pulp fiber that is derived directly from its organic source.
W
Watermark: A translucent impression made in a sheet of paper created during its manufacture.
Web-fed: A printing process utilizing paper fed through the press from a roll.
Wet trapping: Printing an ink or varnish over another layer of ink or varnish while the bottom layer is still wet.
Widow: A word or part of a word that is the last line of a paragraph or that ends up at the top of a page by itself.
Wire-O binding: A binding method that winds a circular, double-wire strip through prepunched holes in the cover and pages of a publication.
Wire side: In the papermaking process, the side of the paper that is formed against the wire. The wire side of paper made on a fourdrinier machine is generally rougher. For paper made on a cylinder machine, the wire side is generally smoother.
Window envelope: An envelope with an opening where part of the contents can be seen.
Work and tumble: Printing a sheet so that the same image is produced on both sides of a sheet. When the sheet is tumbled, the opposite side of the sheet is fed through the press.
Work and turn: Printing a sheet so that the same image is produced on both sides of a sheet. When the sheet is turned, the same side of the sheet is fed through the press.
Writing paper: Lightweight paper used for correspondence.
Wrong reading: An image that is backwards when compared to the original.