Glossary of Terms

Banner Ad - A (most often graphic) advertisement placed on a web page, which acts as a hyperlink to an advertiser's web site.

Bandwidth - A measure for the speed (amount of data) you can send through an Internet connection. The more bandwidth, the faster the connection.

Clickthrough Rate - The number of times visitors click on a hyperlink (or advertisement) on a page, as a percentage of the number of times the page has been displayed.

Database - Data stored in a computer in such a way that a computer program can easily retrieve and manipulate the data.

DHTML (Dynamic HTML) - A term commonly to describe HTML content that can change dynamically.

DNS (Domain Name Service) - A computer program running on a web server, translating domain names into IP addresses.

Domain Name - The name that identifies a web site. (www.yourwebsite.com)

Flash - A vector-based multimedia format developed by Adobe for use on the web.

Host - Computer that provides web-documents to clients or users. Also referred as [host]server.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) - HTML is the language of the web. HTML is a set of tags that are used to define the content, layout and the formatting of the web document. Web browsers use the HTML tags to define how to display the text.

Keyword - A word used by a search engine to search for relevant web information.

Meta Tags - Information placed in the HTML header of a Web page, providing information that is not visible to browsers. The most common meta tags relevant to search engines are keyword and description tags.

PDF (Portable Document Format) - A document file format developed by Adobe. Most often used for text documents.

PPC (Pay Per Click) - A form of online advertising where an ad is placed on a website or search directory in which the advertiser pays when the ad is clicked.

RSS - (Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication) A commonly used protocol for syndication and sharing of content, originally developed to facilitate the syndication of news articles, now widely used to share the contents of blogs. Mashups are often made using RSS feeds.

SEO - (Search Engine Optimization) The practice of designing web pages so that they rank as high as possible in search results from search engines.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) - Software to secure and protect web site communication using encrypted transmission of data.

Streaming - A method of sending audio and video files over the Internet in such a way that the user can view the file while it is being transferred.

Web Spider - A computer program that searches the Internet for web pages. Common web spiders are the one used by search engines like Google to index the web. Web spiders are also called web robots or wanderers.

Bitmap - In computer graphics, a bitmap or raster graphics image is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium. Raster images are stored in image files with varying formats. A bitmap corresponds bit-for-bit with an image displayed on a screen, generally in the same format used for storage in the display's video memory, or maybe as a device-independent bitmap. A bitmap is technically characterized by the width and height of the image in pixels and by the number of bits per pixel (a color depth, which determines the number of colors it can represent).

Bleed - Printing that extends to the edge of a sheet or page after trimming.

Comp./Proof - A sample of what the design project will look like before it's printed or finalized showing the layout of the text and graphics.

Compressed File - A file that has been compressed to occupy minimal storage space. (i.e.: .zip, .tar, .sit)

Continuous Tone - A black and white photograph is a good example of continuous tone. They contain gradient tones from black to white which are called continuous tones.

DPI (dots per inch) - DPI is the number of dots (or pixels - PPI) that fit horizontally and vertically into a one-inch measure. The more dots per inch, the more detail is captured and the sharper the image. A typical image on the web is 72dpi whereas when printing, files must be 300dpi or higher at full size. Scaling a 72dpi image up to 300dpi is not recommending and will result in a blurry image.

Duotone - Duotones are images made up of two colors. For instance, black and orange. The resulting image has greater depth and will give the viewer the impression that it contains more than 2 colors.

Font - A complete combination of characters created in a specific type of one style and size. The set of characters in a font entail the letter set, the number set, and all of the special characters and marks you get when pressing the shift key or other command keys on your keyboard.

High-Resolution Image - An image with an extreme level of sharpness and clarity. Typically 300dpi and above.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Electronic Group) - A common process for compressing digital images.

Low-Resolution Image - Don't get me started!

Monotone - A Monotone image is just that. An image made up of just one color.

Native File - The default file format used by a specific software application. (i.e.: Photoshop .psd, Illustrator .ai, Adobe .pdf)

Rasterize An image - is said to be rasterized when transformed from vector image to a bitmapped image. When opening a vector image in a bitmap-based editing program, you are generally presented with a dialog box of options for rasterizing the image.

Resolution - The resolution of an image is an important factor in deciding the attainable output quality. The higher the resolution of an image, the less pixilated it will be and the curves of the image will appear smoother.

Vector Graphic - Vector graphics allows the designer to expand or reduce the vector graphic in size without any loss in quality using curves, points, lines and polygons.

Aqueous Coating - It is used to protect and enhance the printed piece. Aqueous coating is applied to all 100lb gloss book and 100lb gloss cover.

Bleed - Printed colors that extend past the edge of a page. To cut the job to its actual size the processor has to make sure the job gets printed with 1/8 of an inch bleed some jobs may require more than that. For example if the job is a business card (3.5" x 2") the file size with bleed would be (3.625" x 2.125").

Card Stock - Also called cover stock. Mostly heavyweight papers are called cards stock. The thickness of card stock is indicated with point sizes such as 14pt, 16pt. Some people will also refer to 100lb gloss cover as a card stock.

CMYK - The primary colors used in 4-color printing. CMYK are used to reproduce full color on the printed sheet. CMYK is also called Process Color.

C: Cyan
M: Magenta
Y: Yellow
K: Black

Coating - The mixture of clay materials that are applied to paper to improve the smoothness of the paper's surface and improve ink holdout during the printing process. Examples are Aqueous coating (AQ) and UV coating. UV coating adds a gloss finish to the product and also improves the vibrancy of the printed colors. Spot-UV can be applied to selected portions of the piece, while keeping the rest a matte finish.

Color Types - 4:4 - 2 sided, full color on front and on back
4:1 - 2 sided, full color on front, black on back
4:0 - 1 sided, full color on front

Die Cutting - A specific shape like circle, star, etc. (any designs that cannot be done by a straight cut) which is cut by a metal blade. Vinyl stickers are a popular product which can utilize die cutting which follows the border of the design for a super-cool look.

Dots Per Inch (dpi) - A measurement of resolution of input, output and display devices. 300dpi means that when printed, each square inch of your image will contain 90,000 pixels (dots), the higher the dpi (the more pixels per inch) the more crisp the printed image will be. Our electronic (digital files) have to have a resolution of at least 300dpi. Anything less than that is considered as low resolution and may appear blurry when printed.

Finished Size / Trim Size - The size of a printed product after all production operations have been completed.

Flat Size - The size of a printed product after printing and trimming but before any finishing operations that affect its size, such as folding.

Gloss Finish - A coating on paper that provides a higher reflection of light, which results in a shiny appearance. Gloss coatings reduce ink absorption, which allows excellent contrast and color definition.

Gloss Paper - Paper with a gloss finish, usually used for higher quality printing. Examples are 100lb gloss book, and 100lb gloss cover.

Landscape - Printing a page so that when positioned for reading the width is greater than the height.

Matte Finish - A coated paper finish that is flat, not shiny like a gloss, but still keeps much of the ink from being absorbed by the paper and produces an excellent image. Matte/ Dull finish is applied to all 14pt jobs and 16pt jobs unless it is Spot UV.

Pantone Matching System (PMS) - A registered name for an ink color matching system used to compare, match and identify specific colors. To do so we use a pantone book. It contains pantone colors with their closest CMYK values.

Perforation - Creating a series of holes so that the paper can be torn more easily along the line that is formed. Postage stamps and tear-off cards are common products that require perforation.

Proofread - Checking a proof for errors or discrepancies from the original copy.

Resolution - The measurement of output quality expressed in pixels (dots) per inch on a computer monitor or dots per inch on printed media. For example, a monitor displaying a resolution of 800 by 600 refers to a screen capable of displaying 800 pixels in each of 600 lines, which translates into a total of 480,000 pixels displayed on the screen. When referring to printed media, a 300 dpi (dots per inch) printer for example, is capable of outputting 300 dots in a one-inch line, which means that it has the ability of printing 90,000 distinct dots per square inch (300 x 300).

RGB - The additive primary colors, red, green and blue, used to display color in video monitors. Printing with a file in RGB color mode will produce a washed out appearance. Files need to be converted to CMYK before printing.

Spot Coating / Spot UV - Coating paper only in specific areas as opposed to all over coating. In a Spot UV job the job gets a UV coating in only specific areas and does not get any AQ coating in any other places. Spot UV can be referred to as spot varnish.

Template - A preset model that acts as a structure for setting up a similar product. Here at GINGALLEY we have lot of templates. The customers can download the templates online. If you do not see a template for a specific product, please contact us.

Turnaround Time - The accumulated time between receipt of an order and completion of the finished product. Here at GINGALLEY we offer different types of turnaround depending on the product, we have Next Day, 2-4 days, 5-7 days and 7-9 business days turnaround.

UV Coating - A liquid coating applied to the printed piece, which is then bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. This coating is used to provide a protective coating to the printed image. Please note that you CAN NOT write or imprint on a uv coated jobs.

Varnish - A thin, liquid protective coating, either matte or glossy, that is applied to the product. It adds protection and enhances the appearance of the product. It can be applied as an all over coating or it can be applied as a spot coating.