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Additive Colour
A colour produced by light falling onto a surface, as compared to subtractive colour. The additive primary colours are red, green and blue.

Algorithm
A detailed sequence of steps for solving a logical or mathematical problem or performing a task.

Alpha Channel
An eight bit grayscale channel within some image processing software programs which is used for masking objects, making them transparent or adding specific color instructions.

Application
An application or software program is a software executable designed to perform a specific function. Adobe Photoshop is an example of an application designed to perform image editing. Microsoft Word is an example of an application designed to perform word-processing.

Anti-Aliasing
The process of elimination of jagged or-"stair stepped" pixel edges or single pixels by a software algorithm, which blends the contrasting colors and shapes. The blending of pixel colours on the perimeter of hard-edged shapes, like type, to smooth undesirable edges (jaggies).

Artwork
All original copy, including type, photos and illustrations, intended for printing. Also called art.

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Binary
The basis for all digital computer information. Relates to the coding of data in terms of either a 1 or 0.

Bit
A shortened form of the term "binary digit," the smallest unit of information that can be stored in a computer. One digit of binary information can be either a mark or a space.

Bit Depth
A measure of a computer monitor's ability to display different colors at the same time. While a monitor with a bit depth of 1 can only display monochrome information, a monitor with a bit depth of 4 can display 16 colors; an 8-bit monitor can display 256 colors and a 24-bit monitor can display 16.7 million colors. A 32-bit monitor has an additional 8-bits for transparency effects or masking as in the case of an Alpha channel.

Bitmap
An image format that only defines an image in terms of black and white. A bitmapped image is generally used to define line art because its elements can only be black and white, unlike a grayscale image. In general, a bitmapped image will require a higher resolution to render good quality line art (1000 dpi or higher). A bitmapped image is also known as a 1-bit image.

Bitmapped
An image, which is formed by a collection of square pixels in a rectangular format. The more bits per pixel the smoother the final image will be.

Byte
The computer standard of measure for file size, which is made up of 8-bits of information. One megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes. One gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes or about one million bytes. One kilobyte is 1,024 bytes.

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Cache
Storage within the computer, which processes data very quickly. Often in RAM or can be a supplemental board. Increases operating speed and efficiency.

Calibration
The process of matching a monitor's color to print devices such as digital printers, ink-jet printers and offset printers.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script
An application that the server runs at specific times. For example, when a visitor connects to a server, the server might open a CGI script that displays a form the visitor fills out, and then sends the data to a storage area.

CIE-Lab
A colour standard based on imaginary primary colours XYZ, which are purely theoretical and independent of device-dependent colour gamuts such as RGB and CMYK. The virtual colours have been selected so that all colours which can be perceived by the human eye lie within their colour space.

CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Four-color printing process that uses the aforementioned inks. Also know as process printing and sometimes referred to as subtractive color. The four process is used in the printing industry to create "full color" print jobs when spot colors are not used such as printing images with photos in offset lithography.

Color Balance
Refers to amounts of process colors that simulate the colors of the original scene or photograph.

Color Cast
Unwanted color affecting an entire image or portion of an image.

Color Correct
Adjust the relationship among the process colors to achieve desirable colors.

Color Gamut
Range of hues possible to reproduce using a specific device, such as a computer screen, or system, such as four-color process printing.  colors.

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Color model
The dimensional coordinate system used to describe colors numerically. Some models include Red, Green, Blue (RGB); Hue, Lightness, Saturation (HLS); Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black (CMYK); and Lightness, a, b (Lab).

Color Saturation
The sum of the amounts of ink in a given area of a particular image. In theory, an area of a four-color image that is totally black has a color saturation value of 400 (100C 100M 100Y 100K). Because of dot gain and press conditions, we do not allow a color saturation value above 300.

Color space
A particular variant of a color model with a specific gamut or range of colors, which is one of its chief characteristics. For example, within the color model RGB are a number of color spaces like Apple RGB, Adobe RGB (1998), and sRGB. While each of these define color by the same three axes (R, G, and B), they differ in gamut as well as other specific characteristics.

Combination Halftone (Combo)
An image that is comprised of elements of both a halftone and line art. The most common occurrences are images where the labeling of the image is outside of the halftone area. The requirements for this particular type of image are that the text be crisp and clear, while the quality of the halftone is unchanged. The only way to do this is by combining the properties of the two image types.

Composition
(1) In typography, the assembly of typographic elements, such as words and paragraphs, into pages ready for printing. (2) In graphic design, the arrangement of type, graphics and other elements on the page.

Compression Software/Compression Algorithm
A software program or process that physically reduces the data size of an image or file. It is usually achieved by deleting like elements of information for the purposes of compression, then restoring those elements upon decompression. The algorithm is the process, method, or mathematical model used to compress the file.

Crop
To cut off part of an image, such as unneeded sections of a graphic or extra white space around the borders.

Crop Marks
Lines near the edges of an image indicating portions to be reproduced. Also called cut marks and tic marks.

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Dither
The process of simulating color by a combination of small dots of primary colors which, when viewed, appear to mix and form the desired color. Very useful for the Web to correct GIF image output.

Domain type
The suffix of a Web site that identifies the type of content the Web site contains or what kind of organization the site is associated with (such as "com" for commercial, "edu" for education, "gov" for government, and "org" for a nonprofit organization).

DOT
1. A Halftone dot (used in color separations). Halftone dots are often confused with pixels butthe two are not related. Pixels have fixed size but variable density. Halftone dots have fixed density but variable size. This gives the illusion of a continuous-tone image when viewed from a distance. There is no fixed relationship between the number of pixels and the number of halftone dots per inch, but a halftone dot can resolve detail smaller than itself (by varying its shape), so for best detail there should be at least twice as many pixels per-inch as halftone dots.

2. A pixel in an input scanner or continuous-tone output device (e.g., dye sublimation printer). Scanner resolution is sometimes quoted in "DPI"(Dots Per Inch) but this can be misleading because here the word "dot" really means "pixel." When referring to a continuous tone scanner, "DPI" should be changed to "PPI" (Points Per Inch or Pixel Per Inch) or even to "LPI"(Lines Per Inch) to avoid confusion.

DPI: Dots Per Inch - A method for measuring the resolution of printers, imagesetters and other output devices.

Dot Gain
The phenomenon that occurs when ink is transferred from the plate to the blanket of the press and finally to the paper on which it is being printed. A dot for a halftone or a screen gets larger because of to the mechanical process of transferring ink. Dot gain can be and is controlled by strict quality measures. The scanning of halftones must be tightly controlled to compensate for dot gain on press to ensure that halftone quality does not suffer.

DPI (or PPI)
Dots Per Inch/Pixels Per Inch. The resolution of an image or how many pixels are defined in the boundary of a square inch. The more correct term is pixels per inch, however dots per inch is often used instead. Also a method for measuring the resolution of printers, imagesetters and other output devices based on how many dots per inch their system is capable of producing in a print or scan.

Duotone
A color mode which takes a grayscale image and inserts two seperate spot colors to comprise the image of a combination of those two specified colors. Some Duotones may be comprised of one spot color and the black already present in the grayscale image.

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EPS
Encapsulated PostScript, file format that supports both vector graphics and bitmap images. This file format standard was established by Adobe for outputting digital images to Postscript output devices.

An EPS file is usually used for combination artwork or charts and graphs. Generally, an EPS file is a vector based graphic but it is not since the format can contain bitmap images it is not limited to vector.

Encode
To convert a graphics file from one size to another, either larger or smaller, for purposes of printing, editing, or transmitting electronically.

Flattening
The act of taking a mulitple layered document and forcing it to combine all layers to make single layer document. Best known as a Photoshop process in which all visible layers are merged into the background, greatly reducing file size. Flattening an image discards all hidden layers and fills the remaining transparent areas with white. It is important to note that once an image has been flattened it no longer retains the ability to easily edit the information that had once been seperated by layers.

FPO
For Position(or Placement) Only. A representation (usually low resolution) that indicates the position on a page of an object, but is not meant to represent the output quality of the object.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol. This is the language used for file transfer from computer to computer across the WWW. An anonymous FTP is a file transfer between locations that does not require users to identify themselves with a password or log-in. An anonymous FTP is not secure, because it can be accessed by any other user of the Web.

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Gamma
The way in which dark or light shades are measured in a photographic image. The measure of the image contrast, changing the midtone placement rather than the endpoints.

Gamut
The range of colors, which are available in a color system. If your color is out of gamut range, then it may not print or view correctly.

GIF
Graphic Interchange Format. Yet another image format type generated specifically for computer use. Its resolution is usually very low (72 dpi).

Graphic Design
Arrangement of type and visual elements along with specifications for paper, ink colors and printing processes that, when combined, convey a visual message.

Graphics
Visual elements that supplement type to make printed messages more clear or interesting.

Grayscale
A file created by scanning a continuous tone original and saving the information as shades of gray; also, an image containing a series of tones stepped from white to black. In black and white photography, the highest bit depth mode which contains 256 shades of gray. Each pixel can be any one of values from zero to 255.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
A method for preparing text files so they can display content and link to other files on the World Wide Web.

Hue
A specific color range such as blue or yellow.

Halftone
A method of generating on press or on a laser printer an image that requires varying densities or shades to accurately render the image. This is achieved by representing the image as a pattern of dots of varying size. Larger dots represent darker areas, and smaller dots represent lighter areas of an image.

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Imagesetter
A device that uses laser light to expose film at high dpi resolution, usually 1200 dpi or higher. Most imagesetters have a maximum dpi of 4000. When generating screens or dots for halftones, each dot is created from the smaller dots that are determined by the dpi resolution. Imagesetters come in many different sizes and formats. They can image one page at a time or they can be manufactured large enough to make imposed film for presses.

Image editor
Software programs that have been designed specifically for capturing, creating, editing, and manipulating images. Examples of these programs are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand, and CorelDRAW.

Indexed Color
A color image format that contains a palette of 256 colors or less to define the image. Indexed color can reduce file size while maintaining visual quality. The reduction in file size makes it an ideal format for multimedia or web graphics. It is not used for high end printing.

Internet
The massive global network of interconnected computers and communications hardware and software that links World Wide Web sites and other services, such as e-mail, discussion groups, and FTP servers.

Internet service provider (ISP)
A company that provides direct access to the Internet. The ISP usually has fast, dedicated connections to Internet services and multiple modems to which individual users connect over phone lines. When you establish an account with an ISP, the company provides the information and basic software you need to set up your computer for Internet access.

Interpolate
A process for estimation the difference between two known values. Resizing-up by considering the individual pixel and the surrounding area of pixels. Interpolation averages existing pixels to create new pixels. Takes longer than replication. Can soften the image definition and make it blurry.

Intranet
A network-based collection of Web servers and sites usually located within one company or other organization.

IP address
IP is short for Internet Protocol, a way of specifying how information is transferred across computer networks. The IP address, which identifies a specific computer, consists of a 4- to 12-digit number separated into four sections by periods (for example, 160.198.2.2).

Jaggies
The effect caused by images or lines being rendered at too low a resolution. It can easily be defined as a stair-stepped effect giving the line or image a rough appearance. By increasing the resolution, we can reduce the stair-stepped effect. It is important to remember though that once an image has been saved at a lower resolution it cannot be "rezzed up" to a higher resolution. The resolution will in fact increase, but the quality of the image will not.

JPEG (or JPG)
Joint Photographic Experts Group. JPEG is a standards committee that designed an image compression format. The compression format they designed is known as a lossy compression, in that it deletes information from an image that it considers unnecessary. JPEG files can range from small amounts of lossless compression to large amounts of lossy compression. This is a common standard on the Web, but the data loss generated in its compression make it undesirable for printing purposes.

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LAN
Local Area Network - A method for connecting personal computers together so they may share information and use of peripherals.

Layout
A sample of the original providing (showing) position of printed work (direction, instructions) needed and desired. The artwork "Laid Out" in the manner in which it should appear in the final output. OR... the Act of making a design by placing/arranging design objects (Photos & Graphics) and setting typestyles and colors to a given project.

Layout Program
Software programs that have been designed primarily for the design and creation of pages. Although these programs generally have the ability to create, draw, or manipulate images, they were not designed specifically for that function. Two of these programs are QuarkXPress and Adobe PageMaker.

Layered
In Photoshop, a layer is a section of information within a file. For example, a RGB file consists of at least four layers: the combined RGB layer, a Red layer, a Green layer, and a Blue.

Leading
Amount of space between lines of type.

Logo (Logotype)
A company, partnership or corporate creation (design) that denotes a unique entity. The design that represents a company, group, or organization. The design can be a possible combination of letters and art work to create a "sole" entity symbol of that specific unit. Icons, lettering style and colors are all individaul elements of a total Logo.

Lossless Compression
The process of compressing a file such that, after being compressed and decompressed, it matches its original format bit for bit.

Line Art
Artwork made of solid blacks and whites, with no tonal (gray) values or other color variations.

LPI
Lines Per Inch. The number of lines per inch on a halftone screen. As a general rule, the higher the lpi, the higher the printed resolution. CKW usually prints journals at 150 lpi.

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Midtones
In a photograph or illustration, tones created by dots between 30 percent and 70 percent of coverage, as compared to highlights and shadows.

Multichannel
Color mode in which each multiple channel in Photoshop uses 256 levels of gray.

Moiré
The noticeable, unwanted pattern generated by scanning or rescreening a piece of art that already contains a dot pattern. This effect can also be caused by the misalignment of screen angles in color work.

Monochrome
A single color. Monochrome usually refers to a black-and-white image. Also referred to as line art or bitmap mode (Adobe Photoshop).

Network
An assembly of several processing units interfaced together. (A network, by definition, must have computers linked together.)

NTSC
National Television Standards Committee.

Non-Lossy
A compression scheme, which does not allow the loss of any data during file compression. (Loss-less).

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OPI
Open Prepress Interface. Also known as image-swapping technology, this is the process that allows low resolution images inserted into a page layout program to be swapped with the high resolution version for film or platesetting.

OPI Server
The device that creates the low-resolution images and maintains the high-resolution versions. Upon printing to an image- or platesetting device, a PostScript file points to the location of the high-resolution files on the OPI server, which then inserts and images the graphics.

Output Resolution
The resolution of the device used for the final output of a digital file expressed as dots per inch (dpi). When printing halftones, the output device is normally a PostScript laser printer or imagesetter. Resolution varies between 300 dpi and 3300 dpi.

PICT
Another type of image format. A PICT file can contain black and white, color, or grayscale information, as can a TIFF or EPS file. A PICT image uses a language called QuickDraw to render the graphic. QuickDraw is limited in precision and cannot contain complex curves or special text effects, making a PICT image a bad choice for imagesetting to film or plate. A PICT file is acceptable for laser printer or low resolution output. This was the original generic file format for encoding illustrations on a Macintosh platform.

Pickup Art
Artwork, used in a previous job, to be incorporated in a current job.

Pixel
One of the small units that make up an image on a computer or television screen. It is derived from the words picture and element to make pixel. Think of it as a dot or grain, which contains information about the color or brightness value of the area of the picture it represents.

Platesetter
A device that uses laser light or thermal imaging to expose printing plates at high dpi resolution, usually 1200 dpi or higher. When generating screens or dots for halftones, each dot is created from the smaller dots that are determined by the dpi resolution. Platesetters come in many different sizes and formats. They can be configured to make many different sizes of plates, including plates for large presses such as the Double Round press.

Positive Film
Film that prevents light from passing through images, as compared to negative film that allows light to pass through. Also called knockout film.

PostScript
A page description programming language created by Adobe Systems Inc. that is a device-independent industry standard for outputting documents and graphics.

PPI
Pixels Per Inch (see DPI)

Process Printing
Output based from a printing press that uses four colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black to create the illusion of continuous tone images. For that reason, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are also known as process colors (CMYK).

Proof
Test sheet made to reveal errors or flaws, predict results on press and record how a printing job is intended to appear when finished.

Proofer
A printing device a service bureau uses to create images as contracts (also called a contract proof) to match in the final output from the offset press. Traditional proofers create prints from separation negatives; digital proofers create ink-jet prints (i.e., IRIS) or dye-sublimation prints (i.e., Kodak, 3M).

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Raster
The process of rendering an image or a page using the technology that helped create the television. It involves rendering the particular image or page, pixel by pixel, in a sweeping vertical or horizontal motion, like a rake drawing lines in the dirt. A raster is essentially a grid of horizontal lines, which make up the picture on the screen.

Rasterized Type
Type that has rough or stair-stepped edges. The type does not appear smooth because it has been rendered at a resolution that is too low.

Rasterization
A way to convert the curves in type and illustrations (vector-based graphics) into a pattern of dots which can be displayed on a raster based screen or print device.

Res-up
The process of increasing the size of a compressed graphics file to a high resolution image with tools like Genuine Fractals PrintPro from LizardTech.

Resolution
The number of dots per inch on the laser printed page or the computer monitor's screen. The number of pixels per unit of measurement. This is used to determine if an image is High Resolution of Low Resolution for optimum printing results. An easyexplination is.. The sharpness of an image on film, paper, computer screen, disc, tape or other medium.
Image Resolution: Total number of pixels of a particular image. Device Resolution - Determines output resolution. Usually 300DPI or higher is considered High Resolution and anything below 300DPI is Low resolution (most low resolution images are saved at 72DPI for easy and quick viewing and printing). Monitor resolution is usually 72 or 80DPI (Web graphics are set to 72DPI, and print graphics are set to 300DPI)

RGB-Red, Green, Blue
Color process used by computer displays. The presence of all three colors as lightwaves is perceived by the eye as white; the absence of light is perceived as black. This is also known as additive color. RGB color is very different from CMYK color. The amount of colors that can be generated by RGB mode is much larger than those that can be generated by CMYK. PLEASE NOTE: Although graphics created and saved in RGB display well within electronic processes such as the Web, screen displays, and CD-ROM products, they can never be used in print products. All work submitted in color must be in CMYK.

RIP
Rasterized Image Processor. A PostScript interpreter that plots images onto output devices such as imagesetters and platesetters.

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Sampling
Sampling, re-sampling, scaling, up-sampling, down-sampling, and resizing up or down . . . terms used for increasing or decreasing the number of pixels in an image. Resizing down is easier to accomplish as existing pixels are simply discarded.

Scale
To enlarge or reduce a graphic display, such as a drawing or a photographic image, by adjusting its size proportionally.

Scanner
A device thatconverts visual information into digital data.

Scratch Disk
The disk used by Photoshop to replace physical RAM. This is defined in Photoshop's preferences. To work best the program needs free space on the scratch disk equal to about 4 times your file size. If you do not have this much free space you may get an inadequate memory message while editing your picture. Normally it is best to either have a very large hard drive to work with or have a separate disc for use in image editing.

Separations
The process printers use to break down a color image into its individual color components. In the case of CMYK seperations, the components of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are seperated and printed on four seperate negatives (or positives - depending on the needs of the print process) for the purposes of printing. The separation then consists of four halftones that represent the four inks used on press to recreate the image. An image that has been processed this way is also known as a separation. In the case of "Spot Colors" or Pantone colors, a seperation is made for each spot color and/or pantone color.

Services Bureau
An organization, which is set up to provide for the needs of computer users who will take their images to the printed page.

Sharpening
In Photoshop, a variation of a traditional compositing technique used to sharpen an image by making tighter registration of color along edges of a color change within an image.

Subtractive color
Color produced by light reflected from a surface, as compared to additive color. Subtractive color includes hues in color photos and colors created by inks on paper.

TIFF
Tagged Image File Format. A type of image file format, TIFF files can include color or grayscale information. The quality of the image is determined by its resolution or dpi. If the resolution is too low, the image will appear jagged or have a stair-stepped effect. Once the resolution has been determined, either by scanning or by saving in an image-manipulation software package, it cannot be upgraded or increased to improve quality.

Tint
Screening or adding white to a solid color for results of lightening that specific color.

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Vector
Illustrations composed of lines, curve segments, points, fill color and stroke color information as opposed to the individual pixel information of a bitmap image. Vector based graphics are usually created in such programs as Illustrator, FreeHand, and CorelDRAW.

Vector Image or Vector Graphic
An image system that uses basic geometric shapes, like rectangles, lines, circles, ellipses and polygons, to create a graphic image. The vector image usually contains very little data, like the starting point (pixel) of the object, what kind of object it is, its size, and color. Rescaling can be performed with greater accuracy than with raster data. This makes for virtually limitless scaling without the problem of lost resolution like you would find in bitmap images. This format can also be called "object oriented."
When the image is rasterized, the vector information is converted into a bitmap using a RIP (Raster Image Processor). Once a vector image has been rasterized, it is best not to scale it more than 5% to 10% up or down.

Visually Lossless Compression
 The process of compressing a file such that some data is lost after the file is compressed and decompressed, although the loss is not detectable to the eye.

Working Files
Files that have been used to generate a graphic file such as an EPS file. Software applications such as Macromedia FreeHand, Adobe Illustrator, and QuarkXPress can all generate EPS files. The editable application file is called the working file.

WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get - A desktop computer system feature that allows the user to preview to some degree the final output to the printed page. Example: Macromedia's Dreamweaver is considered a WYSIWYG application for web building because as you make the html pages you see them virtually as the end user will see them displayed as opposed to the way you would make html pages in a text editor where you cannot see the graphic layout or the same view that the end user would see.

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