The Wells & Drew Printing Dictionary – S

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

S

saddle stitching:
in finishing the binding technique in which wire staples pass through the spine from the outside and are clinched in the center. Only used with folded sections, either single sections or two or more sections inset to form a single section. This type of binding is frequently used for (cheaper) magazines.
saddle wire binding:
to fasten a booklet by wiring the middle fold of the printed sheets of paper.
safety paper:
a paper that shows sign of erasure so that it cannot be altered or tampered with easily.
sampling rate
: a scanning term that indicates the number of samples taken per inch or millimeter in both scan directions on traditional drum scanners.
sans serif:
a typeface that has no serifs (small strokes at the end of main stroke of the character).
satin finish:
in paper a smooth delicately embossed finished paper with sheen.
saturation:
the attribute of color that describes its degree of strength and its departure from gray with the same lightness.
scaling:
the process of enlarging of reducing an image, drawing or other object.
scanner
: ran input device for analyzing and digitizing the content of an original.
scanner lamp
: the illuminator that is used inside the scanner to light the original during content analysis.
scatter proof:
a proof of one single picture or a group of images, made to check color and image quality.
score:
in bindery a crease put on paper to help it fold better.
scoring: in binery, refers to the process of creasing paper mechanically so it will fold more easily.
screen angle:
in printing the position of the two rows of halftone dots relative to degrees of a circle. When outputting the four films of reproduction, the dots of each process color are placed at a distinct and different angle, one to another.
screen curve:
in printing a graph that illustrates the relationship between the stored gray level for a pixel and the dot size that will result on output. Screen curves are established during linearization of an output device.
screened print:
a photo print made by using a halftone negative; also called a velox.
screen fonts:
computer files containing the bitmap outlines of digitally rendered typefaces for display on a computer monitor. Screen fonts offer high fidelity to the printed output.
screen frequency:
an expression of the number of lines or dots per unit of length in a screen for producing a halftone screen.
screening:
in printing,screening is the technique that is used in printing to simulate tinits or continuous-tone images such as photographs using dots. Allmost all printing technologies such as offset, gravure or inkjet printing simulate shades of colors using dots.
screen printing:
a fairly simple and inexpensive printing technique that is well suited for low volume printing on highly irregular surfaces, like binders or clothing. The colors of screen printing tend to be vibrant and long-lasting which also makes the process suitable for outdoor displays and printing on frequently used items.
screen ruling:
a measurement equaling the number of lines or dots per inch on a halftone screen.
screen tint:
in printing,a halftone that contains a uniform dot size over the entire area.
script typeface:
typeface that resembles handwriting. Sometimes the characters are connected. The style can vary from classic to whimsical.
scuffing:
ink that smears or comes off a printed sheet. Also known as rub-off.
scum:
in printing,unwanted ink marks in the non-image area.
scumming :
in printing,scumming is caused by insufficient moisture on the plate. Can be caused by the ink viscosity being too low.
scum dots:
small dots in the printed image that appear in areas that should be white.
seal gum adhesives:
remoistenable adhesive applied to the top flap of the envelope
seams:
where the envelope is glued together with the Bottom Flap.
seams, center:
located approximately in the center of some envelopes.
seams, diagonal:
seams running from the bottom corners to near the center of the throat where the envelope is glued together with the Bottom Flap.
seams, inside side:
where the side seams folds under the back flap.
seams, outside side:
where the side seams folds over the back flap.
seams, side:
where the seams runs almost parallel to the side fold.
security paper:
paper incorporating special security features such as a watermark, special dye, a thin wire,… The paper is used for documents such as cheques or bank notes.
security tint:
patterns or solids printed on the inside of the envelope to increase opacity.
self cover:
cover of a booklet of the same paper grade and weighs as the inside pages.
serif:
type style with thin lines added to the end of a letterform’s stem and stroke. Newspapers I know, do use serif typefaces for text.
service bureau:
an organization that provides output from digital files, usually to a PostScript imagesetter. Service bureaus are contrasted to trade shops, which ordinarily use a combination of manual and electronic prepress equipment to output and assemble film.
set off:
a printing problem that occurs when wet ink from the printed side of the sheet transfers to the back of the sheet above it.
set-off spray:
a dry or liquid spray attachment on presses to prevent ink from transferring from the top of one printed sheet to the bottom of the next. It is also called anti-offset spray.
set size:
the width of the type body of a given point size.
set solid:
to set lines of type without any additional vertical space between them. When a 12 point typeface is set on 12, it is set solid. The letter descenders of the line above will often appear to touch letter ascenders from the line below.
set width:
in typography, the horizontal width of characters.
shading:
to change the brightness or color of parts of a graphic image to simulate a three-dimensional depth.
shadow:
the darkest part of an image, usually with the density at or near maximum density.
sharpen:
to make halftone printing dots smaller. Using negative separations, sharpening is accomplished with dot etching. Over exposure will also sharpen the negative films. When positive working plates are made using positive transparencies, sharpening happens automatically and the size of the printing dots are reduced by 5%. This sharpening is called negative dot gain.
sharpness:
the term that describes the appearance of the image edges in a proof . As the image edges are sharpened, more detail will be visible.
sheet:
a single piece of paper.
sheetfed press:
a printing press that feeds sheets of paper, rather than a continuous paper roll or web. Sheets of different sizes can be printed on the same press.
sheetwise:
the layout of images in a way that requires the use of separate plates to print the front and back of a sheet.
short ink:
ink that is smooth and creamy but does not flow freely.
short grain paper:
paper made with the machine direction in the shortest sheet dimension.
shrinkage:
decrease in the dimensions of a sheet of paper or loss incurred in weight between the amount of pulp used and paper produced.
shingling:
a technique used to prevent creep or push-out in a saddle stitched (or to a far lesser account perfect bound) book made up of a great number of pages of thick paper.
short-run:
four-color print runs of 1000 or less copies.
show-through:
the effect of one side of a sheet of printed paper showing through to the other side. This usually occurs on thin newspaper or magazine printing paper. An ‘off-white’ type of paper is often used to help reduce this in thinner paper stocks.
SID:
(a) abbreviation for Solid Ink Density – A measure of how much complementary light is absorbed by a solid patch in a color control bar as measured with a reflection densitometer.
(b) abbreviation for Standard Ink Densities: In the US, GRACoL recommends the following values: C: 1.40, M:1.50, Y: 1.05, K: 1.70.
sidebar:
in publishing, a term for information placed adjacent to an article in a printed publication, or web page.
side guide:
the guides on the sides of the sheet fed press that position the sheet sideways as the paper is led towards the front guides.
side stitching:
in finishing the binding technique in which wire staples pass through the pile of sections or leaves gathered upon each other and are clinched on the underside.
side seams:
where the seams runs almost parallel to the side fold.
side seams inside:
where the side seams folds under the back flap.
side seams outside:
where the side seams folds over the back flap.
signature:
in printing and binding, the name given to a printed sheet after it has been folded. A signature can represent 4, 8, 12, 16, or more even-numbered pages.
silo:
short for silhouette, which itself is another word for a clipping path. Clipping paths are created in image editing applications like Adobe Photoshop to cut a product shot, person or other object from the surrounding background. This is done in to make the object stand out.
single sheet proof:
a proof made by placing layers of toners, dyes or pigments on a single substrate without the intermediate thin membrane carrier sheets as used for an overlay color proof. Some common types of single sheet off-press proofs are Color-Art, Cromalin, Matchprint, Pressmatch and signature.
single ply:
term applied to paper or board made on a cylinder machine using only one vat.
sixteen sheet:
a paper size that is typically used for posters measuring 3050 x 2030 millimeters or 120 x 80 inches.
size or sizing:
additive substances applied to the paper either internally through the beater or as a coating that improves printing qualities and resistance to liquids. Commonly used sizes are starch and latex.
skeleton black:
a black separation that adds detail and contrast only in the darkest area of the four-colour reproduction from the quarter tones to the shadows.
skew:
option found in many prepress applications to slant an object (text or image) by a prescribed degree. Below is an example of a skewed picture.
skid:
wooden, reusable platform upon which paper is stored or shipped.
slitting: a term to describe the process of cutting of printed sheets by the cutting wheels of a printing press.
slow makreadies:
is caused by a lack of focus on premakeready activities or can be caused by mechanical problems reducing productivity and profitability. see makeready
slitter:
sharp disk which cuts a paper into pre-determined widths.
slurring:
the smearing of the halftone dots on the press sheet in the direction of the travel through the press. Slurring is caused by paper slipping during the impression stage. It makes the dots look like little comets and causes dot gain.
small letter:
synonym for lowercase
smoothness:
that quality of paper defined by its levelness which allows for pressure consistency in printing, assuring uniformity of print.
smooth shading: algorithm used in PostScript 3 and the PDF file format to define blends (transitions from one colour or tint to another).
SMP:
abbreviation for Symmetric Multi-Processing
SMTP:
abbreviation for Simple Message Transfer Protocol
SNA:
abbreviation for Systems Network Architecture
SNAP:
acronym for the Specification for Non-heat Advertising Printing, a set of production specifications developed for uncoated and newsprint paper for separations, proofing and printing in the United States.
sneakernet:
a situation in which no true network is used: files are transferred from one computer to another by copying them to a floppy disk or removable drive, then walking over to another computer and copying them to it.
SNMP:
abbreviation for Simple Network Management Protocol
soda pulp:
is a chemical pulp. Wood chips digested in a hot alkaline solution of sodium hydroxcide or caustic soda. The hot alkali dissolves the lignin cementing material of the wood, thereby freeing cellulose fibers.
soft cover:
in bindery,a book bound with a paper back cover.
soft dot:
the density of the dot on film or plate is greatest at the center and trails off more gradually to the edge. Often, if you look at a soft dot under very high magnification (on the film, of course), it looks slightly “fuzzy,” like it has a fringe around the edge. The opposite of a soft dot is of course a hard dot in which density of the dot on film is constant right up to the edge of the dot, and drops sharply at the edge.
soft font:
a general term given to fonts that can be added or downloaded to a printer or other output device.
soft hyphen:
a specially coded hyphen which is only displayed when formatting of the hyphenated word puts it at the end of a line. Also known as a discretionary hyphen.
software RIP:
a RIP that resides on a standard, non-specialized, off-the-shelf computer.
solarization:
in photography, the effect caused by overexposing an image
solid: Unleaded type. Lines of text with no space between the lines.
space:
in reference to book publishing, the backbone of the book.
spectrophotometer:
measures color across a visible spectrum and produces data describing the color of a given sample in terms of the three parameters in color space.
spaceXML:
a general standard for media advertising in North America using the ANSI X12 formats. It was developed in 1991 and transformed to an XML-based standard in 1992.
SPARC:
abbreviation for Scalable Processor ArChitecture
specialty printer:
a printer who specializes in unusual services that require special equipment (e.g. printing on plastic bags).
spectrophotometer:
a device that very accurately measures a colour sample at many wavelengths and plots the reflectance at each wavelength on a spectrophotometric curve. It can also compute colourimetric tributes.
spell checker:
an option in word processing and layout applications to check the spelling of all the words in the document.
spine :back edge of a book.
spiral bind:
in finishing a binding technique whereby a wire or plastic is spiraled through holes punched along the binding side.
SPOOL:
abbreviation for Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On Line – I never knew this was an acronym!
spot color:
localized color assigned to a graphic or block of text, prepares with a color break and printed without the use of colour separations. Usually process color is not assigned to the spot color areas. spot colors are frequently printed with non-process color inks, although process inks can be used well.
spot size:
the physical size of a recording or scanning spot. The smaller the spot size, the higher the resolution.
spot:
the smallest diameter of light that a scanner can detect or an imagesetter or film plotter can expose. Spot should not be confused with dot, which is the individual element of a halftone.
spread:
(a) two facing pages in a publication such as a magazine or newspaper.
(b) In trapping a spread is a type of trap that is created by extending the foreground object into the background object.
SQL:
abbreviation for Structured Query Language: standard language to query databases.
SRA:
a set of ISO-certified paper sizes. The full list can be found here.
square serif:
a typeface with serifs the same weight or heavier than the main strokes.
squeeze:
slang for compressing data for storage or on-line transmission.
SS:
abbreviation for Same Size
stabbing:
to bind a series of pages with wire staples such that staples enter from the front and back simultaneously, neither side being long enough to exit the opposite side.
stability:
the quality of paper to maintain its original size when it undergoes pressure and moisture changes.
stagger cutting:
a process of cutting many sheets from the same parent sheet in which the smaller sheets have different grain directions; also called dutch or bastard cutting.
standing elements:
in layout these are elements that repeat exactly from one page to another, both in style or content and page position. Headers and footers are typical examples of standing elements.
standoff or stand-off:
the amount of space between two text or image blocks.
static neutralizer:
a device on a printing press that minimizes the amount of static build up on paper as it passes through the press.
stem:
the main vertical stroke making up a type character.
stepper:
short name for a step-and-repeat machine: a device used to expose the same film image multiple times on a film or plate, most commonly used in packaging and label applications.
stepping motors:
a type of electric motor that moves a very precise distance at the command of a computer. For example, a stepping motor drives an imagesetter’s lead screw.
step tablet:
a narrow strip of film consisting of orderly variable progression of increasing differences of neutral gray densities ranging from clear film to maximum density.
stock:
a term for unprinted paper or other material to be printed.
straight matter: body text copy set in simple rectangular columns.
strap:
a subheading used above the main headline in a newspaper article.
streamer:
(a)a newspaper headline that runs across the full page
(b) a quote in a magazine that runs across the width of a column, added to attract the reader’s attention and visually make the page more interesting
stress:
in typography stress refers to the variation of stroke thickness in the shape of characters, how the strokes in the individual glyph or character shape go from thick to thin.
strike-through: the effect of ink soaking through a printed sheet and showing up on the back of the sheet.
string:
a sequence of keyboard characters or codes to be processed as a group.
strip-in:
to add an element, such as copy that is shot separately, and then stripped into place on a goldenrod flat.
stripping:
it means what you think it means but it also refers to the preparation and assembling of film in order to create a printing plate of the entire page
stroke:
(a)Slash character (/).
(b)The essential lines which make up a character
stroking:
in graphic software, a process of building lines of varying thickness around objects, usually to create spreads for trapping.
stuffit:
popular compression program on the Macintosh platform
stumping:
impressing book covers, etc., by means of hot die, brass types or blocks.
style sheet:
a series of typographic format stored so that they can be quickly applied to blocks of text. Style sheets should also include some graphic information, such as rules and colors. Using style sheets is easier than manually formatting large sections of text.
stylus:
a pen sharped pointer that is connected to a computer and used on a digitizing tablet to position images and locate functions on a menu.
subhead:
a secondary phrase usually following a headline. It displays line(s) of lesser size and importance than the main headline.
subscript:
in typography, characters set in a smaller point size and positioned below the baseline. Subscript are typically used in chemical equations and sometimes called inferiors.
substrate:
any material that can be printed on, such as paper, film, plastic, fabric, cellophane or steel. 2. The paper, board, metal, etc.to be printed, or the coating; such as film.
subtractive color primaries:
the process ink colors, cyan, magenta and yellow. Each absorbs or subtracts its complimentary color, red, green or blue, from the light reflecting off the paper. Cyan, magenta and yellow produce a three-color black which is slightly brownish because of the unwanted hue error of the inks.
subtractive color theory
: the principle surrounding the printing of cyan, magenta and yellow inks on paper for the purpose of absorbing portions of the red, green and blue light that is illuminating the surface, to prevent it from reflecting back to the observer’s eye. Different combination’s cyan, magenta and yellow are what create the appearance of the visible spectrum on the paper.
super calender:
a set of rolls used in paper production to increase the gloss and smoothness of the paper.
super calendaring:
a machine procedure that produces a high finished paper surface that is extremely smooth and exceptional for printing.
super cell:
in digital halftone screening, a super cell is a aggregate of halftone dots which are manipulated as a single group.
superimpose:
the process merging two or more images into one.
superior characters:
type that is set above a line in a size generally 20% smaller than the other text. Also called superscripts.
superscript:
type that is slightly smaller than the rest of the font and set above the baseline. Superscript is used for footnote markers and sometimes as the numerator of fractions. Also called superior characters.
surprint:

(a)printing over a previously printed area of either text or graphics.

(b)The combining of two negatives on one printing plate. One negative super imposed over another.

SVG:
abbreviation for Scalable Vector Graphics: fairly new file format that can be used to publish vector based drawings and animations on the world wide web. SVG has been defined by the W3C organisation so it is a vendor independant standard, as opposed to the competing and popular Macromedia Flash file format. SVG is based on XML tags and is only supported by the latest generations of browsers.
swash:
a decorative glyph (character shape) that use elaborate ornamentation, making it look like calligraphy.
swatch:
a color sample.
swatchbook:
a booklet containing paper samples and paper specifications for a line of paper.
swatching out:
an evaluation technique that is used mainly in gravure printing to verify that the films and proofs furnished will in fact produce the expected results for a given printing system. The color proofs are compared to swatches with values of density and dot area already known to be achievable with the printing system.
SWOP:
abbreviation for Standard Web Offset Press, sometimes referred to as US SWOP because it is a standard that is prevalent in the US. According to other sources SWOP stands for Specifications for Web Offset Publications. SWOP refers to a specific set of CMYK printing inks and printing and proofing specifications. The competing standards are Eurostandard (popular in Europe and the Far-East) and TOYO (Japan). All three systems use slightly different types of cyan, magenta and yellow ink.
synthetic font:
a typeface that is created by distorting another typeface. Some applications allow users to select type styles such as bold or italic even it no corresponding typeface exists. Such a ‘fake’ font is created by adding an outline to the regular typeface or by slightly slanting the characters.
synthetic papers: Any petroleum based waterproof papers with a high tensile strength.

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