glossary
Rosette | The (acceptable) dot cluster formation that is created in |
| images. |
RTP | Short for ready to print. A file that has been ripped |
Runnability | Describes the ease with which paper moves through the printing press |
| or printer. A paper that performs well on the press (dust free, ideal |
| moisture content, no curves or waves, trimmed correctly, and trouble- |
| free feeding). |
S/G | Short for short grain. |
Saddle stitch | An automated method of binding where signatures are opened, straddled |
| across a metal right angle plate, and stapled using continuous wire. |
Saturation | The vividness or dullness of a hue. One of the three characteristics that |
| describe colour (along with hue and value). Also called chroma. |
Scoring | A way of folding paper using a long, blunt edged rule that presses firmly |
| down on a document, causing a crease in the paper. The paper is then |
| folded over the crease. |
Screen | The lined screen through which images are photographed to create |
| halftones. Shooting through the mesh of a screen breaks an image into |
| tiny dots. |
Screen angles | The angles at which the halftone screens are placed in relation to one |
| another to avoid undesirable Moiré patterns. |
Screen frequency | How close the lines are in a screen measured in lines per inch. The |
| closer the lines of the screen, the smaller the dots, the more dots per |
| inch, and the crisper the image. In offset printing, the less the paper |
| absorbs and spreads ink, the finer the screen that can be used. |
| Newspapers use screen frequencies of 55 to 85 lines per inch. Most trade |
| publications use 85 to 110 lines per inch. Coated paper can hold dots |
| from a 200 line screen. With waterless printing, the paper can hold dots |
| with even finer screen frequencies, however, it is difficult for the human |
| eye to discern the difference in resolution above 200 lines per inch. |
Screening | The breaking up of the contone image into a |
| printing. The finer the screen, the more dots per inch, the crisper the |
| image. |
Scum | Areas on prints that should remain unprinted which take on ink in an |
| offset press. |
SEF | Short for short edge feed. |
Separations | A colour page split into its component colours (for example, cyan, |
| magenta, yellow, black and each spot colour). Each separation is used to |
| reproduce a particular colour for printing. |
Shadow | The darkest areas in an image or photograph. |
Sheet | A loose leaf of paper, printed or plain |
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