K An abbreviation for kilobyte, a unit of measurement of computer memory, as are KB and K-BYTE. Also, a common abbreviation for black in four-color process work. See also CMYK FOUR-COLOR PROCESS KILOBYTE
KEEP STANDING To hold printing plates or type ready for a reprinting. See also REPRINT
KERN To selectively adjust the distance between the letters within pairs of letters to improve the sense of balance and proportion and legibility. Also, any part of a letter, which extends into the space used by an adjacent letter. Finally, during the period of metal type, a kern was a piece of blank lead used to create a space between words or letters.
Some letters have tails or other elements that make it difficult to set letters closely, while maintaining a specified minimum space between them. This is resolved by kerning the letters. Kerned letters are those letters, which extend beyond the sides of their bodies. Letters, such as A, Y, T, V, W, and L can be kerned. In addition, most swash letters are kerned. See KERNED PAIR KERNING KERNING TABLE LETTERSPACING PITCH
KERNED PAIR A letter pair, within a particular font, for which special letter spacing is specified. For example, in the case of To, the spacing between the T and o is tighter than normal. A kerned pair is a letter pair to which tighter kerning is applied. There may be dozens of kerned pairs (or more) defined for any given font. The kerning pairs are defined in a kerning table. See also KERNING KERNING TABLE
KERNING A typographic term for adjusting the spaces between certain adjacent characters in a line of text in proportional pitch type to make them appear more pleasing to the eye and more easily readable. Although the spaces between individual characters may be enlarged or reduced, kerning particularly refers in typography to reducing the space between certain characters. Kerning improves the appearance of letter combinations, such as AW, WA , MW, TA, and VA. The purpose of kerning is simply to create spaces, which are visually equal, between all letters in order to help the eye to follow the text easily.
Many letters need to be moved closer together for visual appeal. If "To" is typeset using the same letter spacing as for "Th," the space between the letters appears to be too great. The appearance is improved if the top of the "T" is permitted to overhang the "o" a bit. Other character combinations that require this treatment include Tr, Ta, Yo, Ya, Wo, Wa, P., TA, PA, yo, we, ff.
In body text, kerning applies mainly to capitals followed by lower case letters, and to punctuation marks. However, large display text and headlines require attention as the larger type size accentuates any undesirable spaces between letters.
During the period of metal type, it was necessary to cast special characters for these letter combinations. They were called ligatures or Kerning pairs. Today, kerning is performed automatically by sophisticated word processors and desktop publishing systems. See also DESKTOP PUBLISHING FONT NEGATIVE LETTERSPACING LIGATURE TRACKING WORD PROCESSING WORD SPACING
KERNING TABLE A table of kerning pairs within a particular font that indicates for each Kerning Pair the space between the ending of one letter and the beginning of another. If two individual letters are simply overlapped (e.g., ff), the table indicates the amount of overlap. See also FONT KERNED PAIR
KEY To identify the positions of illustrations or pieces of copy on the layout of a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, by numbers, letters, signs or symbols. Also, a color-coded legend to explain symbols or to identify colors that are printed on a press sheet, such as a color key. See also COLOR KEY COPY LAYOUT LEGEND
KEYBOARD The most common computer input device, a keyboard is similar to a typewriter keyboard, but has additional keys. It enables its user to enter letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation marks into the computer. Commands can also be entered by special function keys. In addition, the computer keyboard has cursor movement keys, page up and down keys, delete and insert keys. For wordprocessing, the keyboard is the computer's primary input device. See also DELETE INPUT DEVICE INSERT NUMERIC KEYBOARD PAGE DOWN KEY PAGE UP KEY PUNCTUATION QWERTY KEYBOARD SYMBOL
KEYBOARDING An alternate term for typing. That is, entering information into a computer's memory by means of the input device known as a keyboard. See also KEYBOARD KEYSTROKE TEXT ENTRY TYPE
KEY LINES Lines on mechanical art or a negative, which show the exact size, shape and position of type, photographs or other graphic elements. Also called holding lines. Also, camera-ready artwork. That is, black and white artwork that has been output and pasted into position on a sheet with lines to indicate the location of drill holes, trims, folds, scores, and die-cuts. See also CAMERA READY CAMERA READY ART MAKE-UP MECHANICAL
KEYPLATE In color printing, the printing plate that provides the greatest definition of detail and on which the other color plates are registered. The key plate is used as a guide for the registration of olher colors. It usually is the black plate. See also BLACK PLATE REGISTRATION
KEYSTROKE To depress a key on the computer keyboard in order to enter a character or give a command. Also, the action of striking a key on a keyboard. See also KEYBOARDING TYPE
KICKER A term to describe a secondary headline in smaller type set above a main headline in order to provide a lead into the main headline. HEADER HEADING HEADLINE
KILL In writing and publishing, to cancel a story or delete a word, phrase, or paragraph, before it can be published. In earlier days of printing and typesetting, an order to destroy, or put away type that is already set, but no longer needed. See also DELETE
KILL FEE Payment by a publisher to a freelance writer, who has fulfilled his contractual obligation by writing and submitting a contracted article, which was accepted for publication, but never published. In such a case, payment is usually a percentage of the agreed price for the article, typically one half. See also FREELANCER PAGE RATE
KILOBYTE (K, KB) A unit of measurement of storage capacity of digital information. One kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes. Although the prefix kilo implies 1,000, kilo in computer language is equal to 2 the tenth power, or 1,024. Because one byte is equal to the 8 bits required to define one character (letter, number, or punctuation mark), one Kilobyte of data can contain 1,024 characters. See also BYTE DIGITAL MEGABYTE
KIRKUS REVIEW A journal published every two weeks by BPI Communications, 770 Broadway, New York, NY. It is an advance review service for bookstores, libraries, TV producers, movie studios, newspapers, and others in the book trade, who wish to have news about the new books in advance of their sale. The contents of the journal are limited to book reviews, both fiction and nonfiction. (Mass-market paperbacks, children's books, and poetry are excluded.) Kirkus attempts to publish these reviews between two weeks and two months prior to book publication. It is designed as a tool for collection development. The Kirkus Review is an important resource for librarians. The journal reviews approximately 4,500 books each year and employs a large number of freelance readers.
The journal is divided into two sections, an adult section and a children's section. The adult section includes fiction and non-fiction. The fiction section includes foreign-language, mystery, science fiction, poetry, etc. Both good reviews and bad reviews are included. Most reviews are approximately 200 words in length. The children's section contains about 45 reviews. The adult section contains approximately 250 reviews. See also BOOK REVIEW PUBLICATION DATE REVIEW
KISS DIE CUT To lightly diecut. That is, to only partially cut through the paper. See also DIECUT DIECUTTING
KISS IMPRESSION An impression left on paper by using only just enough force to produce an image. A very light impression. See also IMAGE IMPRESSION
KNOCK-OUT To remove the background color on which type or graphics will be printed so that it will print white. Also, the removal of the color in any area, enabling the background color to show through. In addition, an area from which an underlying color has been cut so that the color of printing can remain pure. Finally, the preparation of a color separation to produce a transparent area on the film, typically when one process color overlaps a second, ensuring that the second color will not print and mix with the first. Some software creates knockouts and traps automatically when preparing files for printing on a printing press. A knockout is the opposite of overprint. See also COLOR SEPARATION CUTOUT IMAGE EDITING MASKING MATERIAL SURPRINT TRAP UNDERCOLOR
KRAFT A German word meaning strong or strength. Used most commonly as an adjective in the context of pulp and paper. See KRAFT PAPER
KRAFT PAPER A coarse, but very strong, brown paper manufactured largely from unbleached kraft wood pulp produced by the sulfate process. Kraft paper is used where durability is desired, such as in the production of paper sacks and bags or wrapping paper. It is well suited to the wrapping of books and other items. Kraft paper may also be bleached and dyed. See also KRAFT KRAFT PULP PAPER PULP
KRAFT PULP A chemical wood pulp produced by digesting wood, using the sulfate process. Originally kraft pulp was a strong, unbleached coniferous pulp used for packaging paper. However, now kraft paper for printing paper is also produced from bleached pulps produced from both coniferous and deciduous woods. See also CHEMICAL PULP PAPER
