DAGGER A symbol (†) used mainly as a reference mark, as for a footnote. However, it can also indicate that the word it marks is obsolete, or represent died, if it precedes a date. A dagger is also called an obelisk. See also DOUBLE DAGGER OBELISK
DAISY WHEEL A removable printing part that consists of a center hub from which formed typewriter characters attached to typebars extend, somewhat like spokes on a wheel. The print characters create an impression by striking a ribbon against the paper. Daisy wheels are used in impact printers for better quality printing. See also DAISY WHEEL PRINTER THIMBLE THIMBLE PRINTER
DAISY WHEEL PRINTER A printer that makes use of a daisy wheel for printing. Daisy wheel printing is crisp and resembles that of typewriters in quality. Until laser printers came along, the printing produced by Daisy wheel printers was the standard for quality. See also CARBON RIBBON DAISY WHEEL LETTER QUALITY THIMBLE THIMBLE PRINTER
DANDY ROLL A light open cylinder of wire mesh on the wet end of a papermaking machine that is used to smooth the wet pulp and create surface finishes, such as wove, laid, or linen. It also adds a watermark effect in finer grades of paper. While it is still 90% water, the paper passes over the dandy roll. The roll imparts the surface texture to the paper. See also LAID PAPER LINEN FINISH PAPER WATERMARK WOVE PAPER
DASH A short horizontal typographical mark (-) that indicates a break between thoughts, sets off a parenthetical clause, marks an omission, or substitutes for a colon. There are two main kinds of dashes, an em dash and an en dash. An em dash is longer than an en dash and much longer than a hyphen. The em-dash is a full square of type in size. An en-dash is only one-half of a square of type in size and resembles a hyphen. An em dash is used mainly to denote a sudden change in tone, or to set off a clause or phrase instead of using parentheses. The main use of an en dash is to represent missing, but implied, items of a series. For example, 2-4 denotes the numbers 2 through 4. See also ELLIPSIS EM DASH EN DASH HYPHEN
DATA A general and imprecise term that normally is used in reference to raw facts, symbols, numbers, instructions, and anything else stored on a hard disk or residing in memory. Data is the input of a computer system, the material with which one works.
DATA ENTRY The act of entering data into a computer's memory. See also KEYBOARD KEYBOARDING INPUT DEVICE TYPE
DATELINE A phrase that precedes a newspaper article or magazine story to provide its place and date of origin. If added to non-news material, the dateline is considered to be an affectation..See also CAPTION FEATURE NEWS AGENCY
DAVEY BOARD A bookbinder's board produced from recycled paper by the Davey Company. Davey board is used for the case of hard cover books. A single layer of pulp is used. The resulting board is calendered to various thicknesses ranging from 0.059" to 0.147." A thickness of 0.083" (3/32") is recommended for most bookbinding needs. See also BINDING BOARD CASE
DBA An abbreviation of the term "doing business as." This term is used occasionally in reference to an owner/proprietor of an unincorporated business or partnership that transacts business under a name adopted for that venture. "Frank Williams doing business as "Williams Publishing" is an example.
D-BOOK A term to denote a book that is printed on removable media (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, etc.). Originally, the term e-book and e-publishing denoted any book produced electronically. However, these terms have become synonymous with books that may be downloaded directly from the Internet. Consequently, d-book has come into use to describe those electronic offerings made available on removable media. See also E-BOOK ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MAGNETIC MEDIA
DEADLINE A time limit established for completing a particular assignment. Also, a boundary line in a prison that prisoners cannot cross without the risk of being shot.
DEBOSS To stamp in such a way that a depressed area is left on the finished piece. If debossing paper, the paper is pressed below its surface. The process of foil stamping covers of books usually leaves a debossed area on the cover, in addition to a transfer of foil. If it is done without foil, it is a blind deboss. See also EMBOSS STAMPING
DECK COPY The text found above or below the headline of an article or story that gives a bit more detail than does the headline and which precedes the text. The type size of the deck copy is smaller that of the headline, but larger than that used for the body text. The deck copy is also called deck. See also HEADING SUBHEAD
DECKLE In papermaking, a board, usually of stainless steel, fitted under a portion of the length of the wire in a Fourdrinier machine papermaking machine to support the pulp stack until it is sufficiently formed to support itself on the moving wire. The term is also used in reference to the untrimmed feathery edges of paper formed on the papermaking machine. Finally, the term is used to denote an irregular, untrimmed edge of handmade paper, frequently used for ornamental effect in stationery and fine books. Deckle is also called deckle edge. See also FOURDRINIER MACHINE PAPER
DECKLE EDGE See DECKLE
DECOLLATE To detach and separate the carbon copies of a continuous paper multipart form from the original. CARBON PAPER MULTI-PART FORMS
DECOMPRESSION The expansion of image files, which previously were compressed. See also LOSSY
DECORATIVE TYPE A term used in reference to unique typefaces designed to attract, usually in headlines or advertisements. Decorative type helps to create a mood. Each has its own style. See also DISPLAY TYPE TYPESTYLE
DEDICATION An author sometimes decides to dedicate the work to an individual or a group of individuals. This is done in the front matter of the book on the right-hand page following the copyright page. Alternatively, the author may add an epigraph, a suitable quotation. See also COPYRIGHT PAGE EPIGRAPH FRONT MATTER
DEEP SINKAGE In printing, a term to denote a deep head margin on a page. That is, the extra white space at the top of the opening page of a chapter is longer than normal. The initial line of text begins at a point much lower than on the opening pages of chapters in other books. See also HEAD MARGIN SINKAGE
DEFAMATION The act of defaming. Libel (written) or slander (spoken) that injures another person. False or unjustified injury to the reputation of another by means of slander or libel. Calumny. See also LIBEL
DEFAULT The automatic settings used by a system (or application program) unless the operator chooses to override them. In a word processing program, for example, the default settings determine font, font size, and font style, as well as other aspects. Therefore, if a word processing program's default setting for font, font size, and font style are Times Roman, 10 points, and normal, a person who wishes to print in Arial, 12 point, normal will be required to change the program settings for font and font size. Default settings can usually be changed by clicking on a menu item, a button on the toolbar, or different values in a dialog box. The changed program settings will revert to their original default values when the program is opened on the next occasion. See also ASCENDING ORDER BASE FONT DEFAULT PRINTER INITIAL BASE FONT LEADING TAB STOP
DEFAULT PRINTER The printer that a computer automatically uses when instructed to print, unless an alternative printer is specified. If one changes printers for a particular printing task, many programs will return automatically after the job has been completed and document closed to the printer designated as the default printer. See also DEFAULT
DEFINITIVE EDITION Any edition, which can be considered to be the most authoritative version of the work. See also EDITION
DELETE To remove or erase a character, word, phrase or any other portion of a document. In word processing, to remove or erase a file, or part of a file, with the intention that such change(s) will be permanent. When working with a document on screen, deletion in word processing is usually performed by use of the Delete key and cursor, with or without highlighting, or the Backspace key. See also BACKSPACE KEY REDLINING UNDELETE
DELUXE EDITION A book edition that has been specially printed and bound for extraordinary appearance. The term is sometimes used in reference to limited editions having special bindings of decorated cloth or leather. See also COFFEE TABLE BOOK EDITION LIMITED EDITION RIBBON MARKER
DEMI OCTAVO A very popular book format, its dimensions trimmed are 216 mm (8½") ×138 mm (approx. 5¼") sewn (135 mm unsewn). See also BOOK FORMAT OCTAVO
DENOTATION The association(s) that a word or expression usually bring out from the majority of speakers of that language, rather than that elicited from any one individual. Also, a word that signifies something specific. An explicit meaning. The meaning that a word specifies, rather than what it implies. See also EMOTIVE LANGUAGE
DENSITOMETER An optical device used throughout the printing process to measure the density of exposed film or printed inks. It is used in the printing industry to measure the density and consistency of color throughout the run, and as a tool to calibrate imagestters and printing presses. Densitometers used for quality control in printing mainly measure the process colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
A densitometer focuses light from a stabilized source on the printed surface. Color filters in the light path restrict the light to the range of wavelengths being measured. Depending on the film thickness and the pigmentation of the ink, part of the light is absorbed. Light not absorbed is reflected by the printed paper, captured by a lens system, and focused into a receiver, where it is converted to electricity. The electrical current is compared to a reference value. This permits the calculation of the absorption characteristics of the ink film being measured. The results appear as a value on the densitometer display. See also CALIBRATE QUALITY CONTROL
DENSITY The relative darkness of an image area. Its degree of opacity on paper or film or, alternatively, the amount of light it absorbs or reflects. High density objects absorb or stop light, whereas low density objects reflect or transmit light.
In photography, the blackening or light-stopping ability of a photographic image, as numerically measured by a densitometer. In addition, the weight of a designated grade of paper, or its specific gravity. Finally, the blackness and weight of type set in phototypesetting. See also DENSITOMETER OPACITY RESOLUTION SHADOW
DEPARTMENT EDITOR a term applicable in large publishing organizations where responsibility for editing manuscripts or content may be separated by subject, genre, or series with a separate editor assigned to each. See also EDITOR GENRE TEXT
DESCENDER In typography, any portion of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline. Only five lowercase letters in the English alphabet have descenders. They are g, j, p, q, and y. See also ASCENDER BASELINE DESCENDER LINE LETTER TYPEFACE X-HEIGHT
DESCENDER LINE An imaginary line marking the lowest point to which descenders of a font reach. See also DESCENDER FONT
DESCENDING ORDER A rearrangement of items by descending order. A sorting operation that reverses the usual ascending sequence. Instead of listing in order of A, B, C, D or 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., a descending sort lists items in sequence from highest to lowest values, such as Z, Y, X, W, V, U, etc. to A, or 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The popular word processing programs can sort words, lines, paragraphs, etc. Ascending order is the normal default order for such programs. See also ALPHANUMERIC ASCENDING ORDER LEXICOGRAPHIC SORT SORT ZIP CODE SEQUENCE
DESCREENING The technique of eliminating moiré patterns while scanning. Also, the process of removing halftone dot patterns after scanning printed matter to avoid moire patterning. See also HALFTONE MOIRE EFFECT SCAN
DESCRIPTOR A term in information retrieval for a word or index entry, which is similar to an index entry in a book, and that identifies an important topic or element in a stored document. It is used as a key in the search for information. See also SEARCH
DESIDERATA The plural form of desiderata, which means something wanted or needed. In bookselling, this refers to a list of books wanted.
DESIGN In graphic arts, the arrangement of words and pictures. The layout carries out the design and translates it into being. The layout is the design plan and must be implemented before the job can be printed. See also GRAPHICS ARTS MARKETING
DESIGNER One who has the responsibility for performing the design function - planning, designing, and specifying the visible aspects of a graphic or printed page. In many organizations, designer is a title assigned to an art department staff member, who reports to the art director. The designer may or may not bear responsibility for overall design, or aspects, such as type. The term is occasionally used in reference to an outside consultant, who may or may not be involved in aspects of production. Like many titles, its significance and use can vary from one organization to another. See also ART DIRECTOR GRAPHICS DEPARTMENT LAYOUT ROUGH LAYOUT
DESKTOP PUBLISHING (DTP) The production of printed matter using a desktop computer system linked to a laser or inkjet printer. The computer hardware and software enables the user to set type and lay out complete pages that combine text and graphics and create output of near-letter quality, letter quality, or true typeset quality. The computer and its printer can be used to prepare a master for printing elsewhere, or to actually produce the copies of the material in-house. Desktop publishing enables anyone to produce professional-looking brochures, newsletters, and reports. The term, desktop publishing, may also be used in reference to electronic publishing that involves no paper.
A word processing program and drawing and painting software are often used to create text and illustrations. Photographs are digitized by a scanner. All text and illustrations can be laid out in a page makeup program, which enables one to see how the final result will appear and to make adjustments. The use of a computer permits one to try different fonts, sizes, colors, and formatting before making any final decisions. Similarly, different headlines, sub-headings, and size, can be evaluated. Graphics may be selected from those supplied with the desktop publishing program or purchased on other disks. Alternatively, one can create one's own graphics. Text can be made to flow around illustrations without a pasting-up stage. When ready, the finished document can be printed on a laser printer.
Before the desktop publishing revolution, a person, who wanted to publish material, needed to use ink duplicators (e.g., Roneo, Gestetner), photocopiers, or offset litho machines. The services of a local printer were needed in order to lay out type. During the 1960s and 70s, publishing began to computerize, beginning with the replacement of hot metal by computer typesetting. This became desktop publishing following the introduction of the personal computer. It further evolved into electronic pre-press during the 1990s. See also ELECTRONIC PUBLSHING FONT FORMAT GRAPHIC LETTER QUALITY MASTER MASTER PAGE PAGE MAKEUP SCANNER WORDWRAP WORD PROCESSOR
DEVICE A term for a representation or design, such as an emblem, badge, trademark, etc., and used to describe the publisher's identifying mark or a printer's ornament. See also LOGO TRADEMARK
DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM (DDC) The most widely used book classification system for libraries in the world. The Dewey Decimal System was devised by a librarian, Melvil Dewey, in 1873. The system has ten major categories and many subdivisions. It is used by public and institutional libraries to classify and shelve their books. Libraries in more than 135 countries use the system and sixty countries feature DDC numbers in their national bibliographies. In the United States, almost all public and school libraries (95%), one quarter of all college and university libraries, and one fifth of all special libraries use the Dewey Decimal System. The DDC is a tool that is continuously revised in order to keep it up to date. It is published in two editions - full and abridged.
Each of the ten major categories used by the DDC are further divided into divisions, and again into sections. The first digit in a three-digit DDC number denotes the main category, such as natural sciences and mathematics. The second digit in each three-digit number indicates the division within the major category (e.g., 510 for mathematics, 520 for astronomy, 530 for physics). The third digit in each three-digit number indicates the section. For example, 531 might denote classical mechanics within the physics division. The third digit s followed by a decimal point. Following this, division by ten continues to the level of classification required. Subjects may appear in more than one discipline. See also LIBRARY LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
DIACRITICAL MARK A term derived from the Greek word for to distinguish. A diacritical mark is an accent above, below, or through a letter to change its pronunciation. It denotes stress, loudness, or pitch. Diacritical marks are used to represent the specialized sounds of various languages. They may be used with consonants or vowels. In some languages such as French, Spanish, and Portuguese, they need not be used with capital letters, unless desired. The acute accent (é) and grave accents(è) used in French are familiar examples of diacritical marks. A diacritical mark is also termed diacritic. See also ACCENT PUNCTUATION SYMBOL FONT TILDE UMLAUT
DIALOGUE A conversation between two or more persons. In publishing, a literary work written in conversational form. Also, the conversation between two characters in a novel, drama, movie, etc. See also FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE NOVEL
Q-AND-A FORMAT
DIAMOND In printing, a name for 4½ point type. See also AGATE PEARL POINT TYPE SIZE
DIAZO A light-sensitive coating used on presensitized printing plates in offset platemaking. Also, a term used in reference to a copy produced in a document copy process that uses a sensitized paper processed with ammonia solution. See also BLUELINE OZALID PLATEMAKING
DICTIONARY A reference book that contains a selection of the words of a language, usually arranged in alphabetical order and expressed in the same or another language. It provides the meaning of each entry, its abbreviation, and information about pronunciation and various spellings. In addition, the dictionary may give grammatical forms, etymologies, synonyms and antonyms, and illustrative quotations. The word, dictionary, comes from the Latin word dictionaries for a collection of words. In word processing, the term also applies to a list of words contained in the computer's spell checking program. See also EXCEPTION DICTIONARY GLOSSARY NEOLOGISM THESAURUS
DIDOT POINTS The units of measurement in the European system for measuring type. Although the point system created by Fournier is universal, the size of the point used in Europe, except Britain, differs from that of the American point. In Europe it was modified to make the point fit the French inch. This resulted in what is termed the Didot system. In this system, one European point equals 1.07 American points. The larger Didot point, called corps, is equal to 0.3758 mm. European printers do not use picas. Instead, they convert 12 points to a "cicero." 14 ciceros are approximately equal to 15 picas. See also CICERO POINT
DIE A steel engraving stamp formed in the shape of an image, design, letter, or pattern, and used in a printing press to print an inked image, or for embossing. Also, any of various devices, such as a metal rule, used to make cuts in printed sheets. The latter may also be called stamping die. See also BLOCKING DIE-CUT ENGRAVING STAMPING
DIE-CUT To make cuts in printed sheets, whether for labels, folders, folding cartons, boxes, pop-up brochures, or other special jobs, using sharp steel rules. See also KISS DIE-CUT STEEL RULE
DIE-CUTTING The process of cutting, perforating, or creasing paper using a metal rule, die, or roller, either post press or inline. A method of cutting various shapes and sizes of labels, boxes, containers, folders, pop-up brochures, advertising displays, and other shapes from printed or unprinted materials. A metal die is made in the shape of the design that cuts the paper or cardboard when pressed against it. The work is performed automatically on the press. See also PERFORATE SCORING
DIE-STAMPING An intaglio process used for the production of letterheads, cards, etc. Printing is done from lettering or other designs engraved into copper or steel. See also DIE ENGRAVING INTAGLIO PROCESS
DIGITAL "Of digits." A term used to describe anything involving bits. See also BIT BYTE MASTER SOFT COPY
DIGITAL CAMERA A camera that takes pictures with a CCD (charge-coupled device) directly in electronic file format and stores them electronically instead of on traditional film. Photographs can be transferred directly to a computer without using film. Once in the computer, the images can be manipulated and processed, much like images from a scanner.
The number of pixels in the image created is the digital camera's most important property. A digital image requires about 2000 × 3000 pixels in order In provide as much detail as a good 35-mm slide, although a much lower resolution (e.g., 480 × 640 pixels) will suffice for snapshots. See also DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY PIXEL PIXELS PER INCH RESOLUTION
DIGITAL FONT Any font that is stored in electronic form in a typesetter's computer. See also BITMAPPED FONT FONT OUTLINE FONT SCALABLE FONT
DIGITAL IMAGE Any image whether copy or graphic, which has been digitized. That is, any image that has been converted into electronic bits. See BITMAPPED GRAPHIC IMAGE IMAGE PROCESSING
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY The use of a digital camera for photography. This differs from conventional photography in that images are not captured on silver halide-based film. Instead, digital cameras capture and store images electronically. A digital cameras use a CCD sensor to capture light and convert it to electrical signals. These are converted into digital data for storage in the camera's random access memory (RAM), or transferred directly to a personal computer. See DIGITAL CAMERA DIGITIZE
DIGITAL PROOF See DIRECT DIGITAL COLOR PROOF
DIGITAL PRESS A printing press capable of printing directly from a computer file, circumventing the need for camera-ready copy and a prepress production stage. See also CAMERA-READY COPY PREPRESS
DIGITAL TYPE See DIGITAL FONT
DIGITIZE To translate into digital form. To convert information into binary code that can be processed by a computer. Optical scanners digitize images by converting them into bit maps. Similarly, continuous sound and video can be converted from analog input to digital input, a series of discrete units represented in a computer by the binary digits, 0 and 1. See also BIT MAP DIGITAL SCANNER
DIMENSIONAL STABILITY The feature of a sheet of paper that causes it to maintain its size when inks are applied, or other changes in moisture or relative humidity occur. See also GRAIN
DIMPLE In publishing, a slight depression, indentation, or hollow area (as appears on a golf ball's surface) on the cover of a book or the pages.
DINGBAT In printing, a small ornamental, non-text, typeface character used to decorate a page, or a piece of type for borders, etc. Dingbats are pictorial characters rather than alphabetic or numeric characters. Common dingbats include a bullet, star, flower, pointing finger or hand, scissors, arrows, or yin-yang symbols. Dingbats were originally used to provide separation between columns or paragraphs. Many dingbats are available as special fonts. Also termed ornament, printer's ornament, or novelty typeface. See also ALPHANUMERIC BULLET CHARACTER FONT GLYPTH ILLUMINATED TAIL-PIECE
DIPHTHONG A single character consisting of two vowels joined together, such as the oe in phoenix and ae in medieval. Diphthongs can appear old-fashioned. As a result, they are often reserved for use with serif typefaces. See also CHARACTER LIGATURE
DIRECT COSTS Those expenses directly associated with the manufacture of a specific product. They include the costs of raw materials and labor involved in the manufacture of that product plus any overhead costs directly attributable to the decision to manufacture the product. General overhead, such as insurance, taxes, bookkeeping, executive salaries, heat, light, rent, etc., are excluded. See also FIXED COST UNIT COST VARIABLE COST
DIRECT DIGITAL COLOR PROOF (DDCP) A test sheet produced by a lower-cost output device, such as a color laser printer, to give an indication as to what the final image will look like when produced on higher quality conventional printing equipment. A direct digital color proof requires no color separations, as do traditional proofs. However, it does give a somewhat lower quality than do traditional separation methods, although it has the advantages of speed and low cost. Also called digital proof. Se also COLOR SEPARATION DIGITAL PROOF
DIRECT IMAGE PLATE A printing plate, usually paper or plastic, which is imaged directly by typewriter or hand drawn images for use on a small offset press. The image is typed or drawn directly onto the plate. An oil-based material is used, such as a grease pencil, pen, lithographic crayon, typewriter ribbon, etc. The direct-image plate is suitable for very small press runs (e.g., 100 copies). See also SHORT RUN PRINTER
DIRECT MAIL A form of advertising that uses the postal service as its medium. The advertising material is mailed to the general public, or to names contained in specific lists of potential customers in order to solicit orders. The printed advertising material is designed to motivate the readers to respond immediately and directly to the sender. The requested action is usually to purchase a product or make a donation. In the case of a purchase, the book or other material is delivered through the mail after payment has been received. The merchandise usually has a high price in order to offset the costs of the mailing of advertising materials. Direct mail advertisers include book clubs, record clubs, and publishers of self- published books. See also FULFILLMENT MARKETING PREMIUM SELF MAILER
DIRECT MARKETING A term that denotes selling directly to individual customers by the publisher without the use of a distributor, retail store, or other intermediate stage in the distribution process. The difference between direct marketing and mail order advertising (or marketing) is that the advertising or selling presentation used in direct marketing is not confined to the U.S. mails. Instead, it may employ radio or television advertising, or an actual seller-to-prospective-purchaser meeting. See also DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING DISINTERMMEDIATION MARKETING
DIRECT-RESPONSE ADVERTISING Advertising designed to generate an immediate response from the reader, viewer, or listener. It may use direct mail, television, radio, or newspaper, etc. However, unlike institutional advertising, which often is designed to create a favorable product image or association, direct response advertising is designed to elicit immediate action, usually a purchase. Consequently, the test of good direct response advertising lies in the level of sales it produces. See also DIRECT MARKETING MARKETING
DIRTY COPY Copy that bears marks and notations by proofreaders or editors and therefore requires further corrections. See also CLEAN COPY EDITING PROOFREADER PROOFREADER'S MARKS
DISBOUND See UNBOUND
DISCOUNTS Discounts offered to booksellers and libraries are based on the number of copies purchased. Each publisher has his own schedule. Many allow dealers to return unsold copies for credit, although imposing some sort of penalty.
The retail booksellers need a 40% discount in order to make a profit. The wholesaler requires a higher discount (from price list) in order to afford the retailer discount. This can be 50-55% or even 60%. Typical publisher trade discounts to retailers or consumers are:
- 1 book - no discount
- 2-4 books - 20% discount
- 5-9 books - 30% discount
- 10 or more books - 40%
The discounts above apply to assorted orders. See also CASH DISCOUNT COURTESY DISCOUNT LIST PRICE NET, NET NET SALES PREPUBLICATION PRICE SHORT DISCOUNT TERMS UNIVERSAL DISCOUNT
DISCRETIONARY HYPHEN Another term for soft hyphen. See SOFT HYPHEN
DISINTERMEDIATION When used in the context of publishing, disintermediation refers to the bypassing of wholesalers, jobbers, distributors, and bookstores. See also DIRECT MARKETING
DISPLAY AD An advertisement in a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical that uses graphics. It contrasts with a classified ad, which contains only copy. See also CLASSIFIED AD DISPLAY TYPE
DISPLAY FONT Another term for display type. See DISPLAY TYPE
DISPLAY TYPE A typeface that is larger than that used in the body copy or text, usually 14 points or larger, and often 18 points. Display type often differs in style from the typeface used for the body copy. It is used for headings and subheadings, including chapter headlines. The term is synonymous with display font.
Display type is also a general term In design, layout, and desktop publishing for type larger than 14-point, which is used to draw attention to headlines, deck copy, callouts, pull quotes, captions, etc. See also BODY TYPE CALL OUTS DECK COPY HEADLINE PULL QUOTES
DISTRIBUTION In publishing, distribution has historically referred to delivery of publications to newsstands and dealers. However, the offerings of book clubs and a large percentage of the copies of most magazines are delivered by the postal service. Ezines are distributed electronically. Distribution often differs from circulation and readership. See also DIRECT MAIL DIRECT MARKETING EZINE MARKETING
DISTRIBUTOR In publishing, a company that warehouses and distributes books or magazines to retail outlets for publishers. It usually serves only one segment of the market (e.g., bookstores), but carries several lines of items for it. It is an organization that is somewhat intermediate between a wholesaler and a jobber. See also JOBBER VENDOR WHOLESALER
DITHERING A technique in computer graphics by which additional colors on a color display or printer are created by mixing pixels or dots of other colors or shades. Also, the creation of various shades of gray on a monochrome display or printer by similarly mixing pixels of black and white. For example, a computer display can simulate various shades of yellow-green by mixing yellow and green dots in various proportions.
It is impossible to display or print all possible colors due to limitations of hardware. However, the illusion of new colors and shades can be created by varying the pattern of pixels (dots). The eye has a tendency to average the effects of different colors and merge them into a single perceived color. Dithering takes advantage of this tendency. For example, illustrations and photographs in newspapers are dithered. If a color illustration contained in a newspaper is examined closely under a magnifying glass, one can see the patterns of colored dots, which constitute the image. Dithering is usually called halftoning in printing and the print images are called halftones. Gray scaling and dithering differ. Each dot can have a different shade of gray in gray scaling, whereas dithering would involve the use of black and white dots. See also ALIASING GRAYSCALE HALFTONE PIXEL
DIVIDER SHEETS Tabbed sheets of paper, usually made from card stock or another heavy stock, which divide a publication into various sections. The divider sheets separate and identify the various sections of the book. Also called dividers. See also :LOOSE LEAF RING BINDING SECTION
DIVIDER TAB That portion of a divider sheet that extends beyond the rest of the publication. See DIVIDER SHEETS
DOCTOR BLADE The knife-edged blade in rotogravure printing that presses against the engraved printing cylinder and wipes the excess ink from the non-printing areas. See also ROTOGRAVURE
DOCUMENT Any kind of text material. Also, a file holding text to be printed, such as a book chapter, letter, etc., or a drawing or other piece of work, which is edited with the aid of the computer. In addition, the term describes any work named and saved as a separate computer file. Although documents are generally considered to be text created on a word-processor, text and data are the same to a computer insofar because both are merely collections of characters. See also BIT BYTE CHARACTER FILE TEXT
DOCUMENT PAPER Also termed archival paper. See ARCHIVAL PAPER
DOCUMENT PROCESSING The use of computer technology at all stages throughout the production of documents, such as books, manuals, pamphlets, reports, etc. A complete document processing system includes all hardware and software necessary to write, arrange, edit, and print documents, including creating the table of contents, index, and footnotes. See DESKTOP PUBLISHING (DTP) WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE
DOGEAR A portion of a page, usually a corner, which is folded over like a dog's ear. Dogears are caused by careless use or intentional marking a place(s) in the book or, alternatively, during book assembly before the trimming operation.
DOT In computer graphics and printing, the smallest individual element in a halftone. The dot combines with others in a matrix of rows and columns to form a character or a graphic element. The dots comprising an image on the screen are known as pixels. The resolution of the display (or printer) device is often given in dots per inch (dpi). Spots in the halftoning process are groups of dots. A dot also serves as a unit of measurement, representing a length or distance of 0.08 mm (or 1/300 inch). See also DOTS PER INCH PIXEL RESOLUTION
DOT ETCHING A term for the process of color correcting screened color separations by chemically reducing the sizes of halftone dots in film negatives or positives to change the amount of color that will be printed. See also HALFTONE NEGATIVE POSITIVE
DOT GAIN A defect that occurs during printing in which dots print larger on the paper than they appear on the negatives or plates. This results in darker tones or colors. Compensating for dot gain is a key consideration of calibrating a digital prepress system. See also CALIBRATION PLUGGED PREPRESS RESOLUTION
DOT LEADER A series of dots that appear in a horizontal line on a page. A dot leader is used to guide the reader's eye from one word, phrase, etc., on the left side of a page to a number or text on the right, as in a Table of Contents. See also ELLIPSIS LEADER
DOT MATRIX PRINTER An impact printer that produces characters and images on paper by striking wire pins against an ink ribbon to print a matrix of closely spaced dots in computer-determined patterns on the page. The quality of output depends largely on the number of tiny dots in the matrix. The more dots, the better will be the print quality. Dot-matrix printers are often classified by the number of pins in their print heads, usually 9, 18, or 24. The pins are arranged in rows and columns. Only those pins required to form a particular character are selected.
Dot matrix printers are relatively inexpensive, although noisy. Further, they do not produce high-quality output. The best dot-matrix printers (24 pins) can produce near letter-quality type. However, they are essential for printing multi-part forms, which laser and ink-jet printers cannot do. The speed of dot matrix printers vary from about 50 characters per second (cps) to more than 500 cps. Dot matrix printers are also called stylus printers. See also CARBON PAPER DAISY WHEEL PRINTER DRAFT QUALITY FONT IMPACT PRINTER IMAGEWRITER LETTER-QUALITY PRINTER NEAR-LETTER QUALIY PRINTER OKIDATA Z-FOLD
DOT PITCH A measure of monitor image clarity, pitch is the diagonal distance measured in millimeters between phosphor dots of the same color on a monitor screen. Dot pitch is one of the principal determinants of the resolution of display monitors. The lower the value, the crisper the image. Dot pitches for color monitors for personal computers vary from 0.15 mm to 0.30 mm. Dot pitch is also known as phosphor pitch. See also PITCH MONITOR CALIBRATION PIXEL
DOTS PER INCH (DPI) A unit of measurement of the resolution of input and output devices, such as page printers, imagesetters, phototypesetting machines, monitors, and scanners. The DPI is the number of dots that a device can print or display per linear inch. The greater the number of printer dots per linear inch, the better the resolution. See also IMAGESETTER
The number of dots per linear inch on monitors are 60 to 100, whereas it is 300 or more for laser printers. As a result, an image printed by a laser printer will appear sharper than when appearing on a monitor. A 300 dpi laser printer produces 90,000 dots (bits) per square inch (i.e., 300 ´ 300), whereas a 600 dpi laser printer produces 360,000 dots (bits) per square inch. See also BIT LASER PRINTER PIXEL RESOLUTION
DOUBLE BURN To expose a plate or proof to two or more negatives to create a single composite negative or combination image, or plate. Also, the term is used in reference to words that are sometimes printed in the light area of a photograph. See also BURN BURN OUT COMPOSITE MONTAGE
DOUBLE COLUMN A term to denote a page consisting of two vertical columns of type, instead of one where the type extends across the full page. See also COLUMN NEWSPAPER COLUMNS PARALLEL COLUMNS
DOUBLE DAGGER A mark (‡) used in writing for reference, as to mark a footnote. Also called diesis. See also DAGGER SYMBOL FONT
DOUBLE-FOLD A folding operation in which a sheet of paper is folded twice to create four panels. Double-folds are often required in the production of pamphlets or brochures. See also PANEL FOLD SINGLE FOLD
DOUBLE HIT The passing of a printing job through a printing press twice in order to obtain an additional level of a particular ink. See also DOUBLE VARNISH
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD (DPS) Any two facing pages of a newspaper, magazine, or other publication containing copy or an illustration, which extends from the left hand side across the gutter margins to the right hand side. The copy on both pages matches at the binding edge. See also FACING PAGE GUTTER
DOUBLE-SIDED A term descriptive of duplex printing. See DUPLEX PRINTING
DOUBLE THICK COVER STOCK A term for a cover stock that is composed of two sheets of 65 lb. cover stock, which have been laminated together. See also BASIS WEIGHT COVER STOCK
DOUBLE TRUCK A term to describe a photograph or other illustration that spreads over two adjoining pages. See also DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
DOUBLE VARNISH A term that denotes two applications of varnish on the printing press. See also SPOT VARNISH VARNISH.
DOWNLOAD To copy or transfer a file or program to the computer that one is using from another computer on the network, whether on an intranet or the Internet, using wire or modem and communication software. Also, to copy or transfer a file or program from one's computer to auxiliary storage. In addition to send downloadable fonts from one's computer to one's printer. See also DOWNLOADABLE FONT
e-DISTRIBUTION UPLOAD
DOWNLOADABLE FONT Another term for soft font. See SOFT FONT
DOWN STYLE A term to denote the practice of setting headlines or titles in lowercase, with only the first letter of the first word, initials, and the first letter of proper nouns capitalized. See also HOUSE STYLE STYLE
DRAFT MODE A printing mode in which a computer printer prints text as rapidly as possible, but at the expense of quality. Printing in a draft mode is of low quality, but adequate for purposes of proofreading. Many printers support both draft mode and letter quality (LQ) or near letter quality (NLQ) mode. See also DOT-MATRIX PRINTER LETTER QUALITY (LQ) NEAR LETTER QUALITY
DRAFT QUALITY A term to describe printing quality that is lower than near letter quality. It is a low resolution printout that is not suitable for camera-ready copy. Draft quality is, nevertheless, adequate for checking of copy and positioning and aligning graphics. The draft mode of dot-matrix printers produces draft-quality print. See also DOT-MATRIX PRINTER LETTER QUALITY (LQ) NEAR LETTER QUALITY PRINT QUALITY
DRIER In printing and publishing, any substance that, when added to ink, causes the ink to dry more quickly. Also termed paste drier. See also INK PASTE DRIER
DRILLING The creation of holes in trimmed or untrimmed folded sections of books, or in finished books, to make possible their insertion over the rings or posts of a binder. See also LOOSE LEAF PERFORATE RING BINDING
DRIOGRAPHY A printing method originally developed and brought to market by the 3M Company in the late 1960s. Development of suitable inks for this process, and the durability of the driography plate, met with problems. Toray, a Japanese company, purchased 3M's patents for the driography product in 1972 and introduced the waterless plate after five years of additional R&D. The image areas of the plates used in the process are metal and the non-image areas are rubber. The process attempts to take the water out of lithography. Driography is also called waterless printing, waterless lithography, and silography. See also LITHOGRAPHY
DROP CAP A term in typesetting or desktop publishing to denote a single, enlarged capital letter at the beginning of text that drops below the first baseline and extends into the line or lines of text below. Drop caps are normally used to mark the first page of new chapters or sections and to make them more interesting visually.
The drop cap is set in a larger point size and positioned so that its top is aligned with the ascender of the first line and its bottom is level with the base line of a line one or two below. That is, the drop cap extends through two or three lines. See also ASCENDER BASELINE INITIAL INITIAL CAP DESKTOP PUBLISHING POINT SIZE
DROP FOLIO A page number that is located at the bottom of a page outside the running foot when the numbers on other pages are printed at the top. Drop folios are often used on the opening pages of chapters. See also FOLIO RUNNING FOOT
DROP-OUT A term that refers to those portions of artwork that are not reproduced in printing, such as lines around the images or background areas. See also BLIND IMAGE BLUE PENCIL BLUEPRINT HIGHLIGHT
DROPOUT HALTFONE A term that refers to a halftone that contains no dots or details in its highlights. A dropout halftone is also called a highlight halftone. See also HALFTONE HIGH CONTRAST HIGHLIGHT
DROPOUT TYPE In typesetting and printing, a term to describe type that appears in white on a dark background. The white characters may be unprinted space on white stock or actually characters printed in white. See also REVERSE TYPE
DROP SHADOW A shaded or colored box, or character, placed behind an identical box, or character, but offset horizontally and vertically, to provide a three-dimensional shadow effect. It creates an illusion that the uppermost image has been slightly elevated from the surface. A drop shadow is also called a flat shadow. See also SHADOW PRINT
DRY STRENGTH A term to denote the mechanical strength of a sheet of dry paper. This includes its tensile strength, resistance to tearing, and folding endurance. See also BURSTING STRENGTH PAPER QUALITY CONTROL WET STRENGTH
DRY TRAPPING A method of trapping in which wet ink is printed over a layer of dry ink printed in a separate run of the press. Dry trapping generally creates sharper images than does wet trapping because the new layer of ink is not diluted by the earlier ink layer. However, it requires an additional pass of the paper through the printing press. See also CHOKE LAP REGISTER POOR TRAPPING SPREAD TRAPPING WET TRAPPING
DTP An acronym for desktop publishing. See DESKTOP PUBLISHING
DUAL PURPOSE BOND PAPER A bond paper that is suitable for printing by photocopy (xerography) or lithography. It is also called DP bond paper. Many papers are marketed as dual purpose or multipurpose to meet the needs of Bond, Copy, Laser, and Inkjet printers. See also BOND PAPER LITHOGRAPHY
DULL FINISH A term descriptive of a flat finish or coated paper that has more luster than a matte coating, but less than a high gloss finish. See also GLOSS FINISH MATTE
DUMB QUOTES Quotation marks that stand upright and maintain the same appearance ("), whether positioned before or following the actual words or phrases quoted. See also PUNCTUATION QUOTATION MARKS
DUMMY A preliminary layout showing the size, shape, and style of a printed product, including folds and positions of text and illustrations, as they will appear in the final piece. In printing, sheets that have been folded and made up to show the size, shape, form, and style of a planned piece. In publishing, a mock-up of a forthcoming title. That is, a dummy book consisting of a set of blank pages in the actual cover and jacket designed for it. The dummy is prepared in advance to show the size, shape, and form of the final product. It may be used by publishers' salesmen if the format and appearance are important. A dummy is also called a mock-up. See also ROUGH LAYOUT BULKING DUMMY MOCK-UP
DUMMY FOLIO Page numbers that are added and used for identification purposes during development of the manuscript, or other publication, but which will be changed before the first printing. See also FOLIO WORKING TITLE
DUMMY TYPE Another name for greek. See GREEK TEXT
DUMP BIN A point-of-purchase display for books, usually made of cardboard. A dump bin is a floor display that comes in an individual shipping carton, but that can be set up easily and quickly. Containing 20-40 copies of a book, the dump bin is meant to be an eye-catching display that will create impulse sales. A dump bin is also termed a dump. See also MERCHANDISING POINT-OF-PURCHASE DISPLAY POINT-OF-SALE
DUOTONE A two-color halftone reproduction of an ordinary black-and-white photograph. In order to enhance the middle tones, the black plate is given more contrast, and the second color is flattened to enhance mid-tones. Although black and white (one-color) originals are normally used, a duotone can be made from a, color original. See also CONTRAST HALFTONE HIGHLIGHT
DUPE A shortened form of duplicate. See DUPLICATE
DUPLEX BOARD Paperboard that is comprised of two layers, manufactured largely from waste pulp. Duplex board is used as a packaging material. See also PAPERBOARD PULP
DUPLEX PAPER Paper having two sides that differ in color, finish, or texture. See also PAPER TWO-SIDED PAPER
DUPLEX PRINTING The process of printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. After the document has been bound, verso and recto pages face each other. See BACKING UP BACK-TO-BACK BINDING OFFSET PERFECTING PRESS RECTO VERSO
DUPLICATE To accurately reproduce a page or image. Any copy that appears to be identical to the original. See also FACSIMILE EDITION
DUSTCOVER Another name for dust jacket. See DUST JACKET
DUST JACKET The thin outer detachable paper wrap on a hardcover book. The paper cover wrapped around a hardcover book for protection from dust and for space for promotional copy. It is often printed in bright, appealing colors and images as the dust jacket's primary purpose is advertising. The front cover displays the title, the author's name, and the publisher's name or logo. The back cover often carries quotations from reviews, as well as the ISBN number.
The jacket has two flaps. The front flap contains a blurb giving the reason for the work and why it is a worthwhile purchase. It may also carry the retail price, the publisher's name, and other mundane information. The rear flap may continue the blurb from the front flap and a biography and photograph of the author. It may show the publisher's address and the location where the jacket was printed. A dust jacket is also called a jacket, dust cover or dust jacket. See also BACK FLAP BIONOTE BLURB HARDCOVER IBC IFC ISBN LAMNATED MARKETING
DUSTING Another term for chalking. See CHALKING
DYE SUBLIMATION A color printing process, which produces photographic quality printing characterized by good definition and brilliant colors. It represents the best and most expensive method used by desktop color printers. The process uses many tiny heating elements to evaporate pigments contained in a plastic film and fuse them to the paper.
DYE SUBLIMATION PRINTER An expensive color printer that gives excellent color proofs. The printing appears to be continuous-tone images, like photographs, although really comprised of tiny dots. The intense colors, glossy finish, and apparent lack of dots make the printing particularly suitable for presentations. See also CONTINUOUS-TONE HIGH RESOLUTION
DYE TRANSFER A process of producing color prints by use of special coated papers to produce a full color image. A photographic emulsion is used to transfer a dye solution to film or paper coated with gelatin. Dye transfers can serve as inexpensive proofs. See also COATED PAPER EMULSION PROOF
DYELUX A DuPont trade name for a fast, self-fixing photographic proofing paper that is sensitive on both sides. A dyelux is used to make blueline proofs. Dyelux is also termed blueline. See also BLUELINE PROOF
