Glossary of terms

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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


A

Accent: A modifying mark on a character. For example, the accent marks in Latin script (acute, tilde, and ogonek) and the tone marks in Thai. Synonymous with diacritic.

Agent: Interactive assistants which form part of the SuperTutor training program;

Aliasing:
A technique usually used for displaying bitmap files.

Alpha-blending: A convex combination of two colors allowing for transparency effects. The value of alpha in the color code ranges from 0.0 to 1.0, where 0.0 represents a fully transparent color, and 1.0 represents a fully opaque color.

Alpha Channel:
A portion of each pixel's data that is reserved for transparency information. The alpha channel is an 8-bit channel, which means it has 256 levels of gray from 0 (black) to 255 (white). White acts as the visible area; black acts as the transparent area.

Animated GIF: Animation saved as a graphic interchange format file i.e. a graphic image that moves.

Animation:
Movement created by combining images.

Anti-alias: The blending of pixel colors on the perimeter of hard-edged shapes, like text, to smooth undesirable edges.

Antivirus software: A computer program that attempts to identify, neutralize or eliminate a wide range of threats to a computer or device, including but not limited to (i) malware, (ii) worms, (iii) phishing attacks, (iv) rootkits, and (v) Trojan horses or any other type of similar, related or malicious software.

Apple computer: A computer or device manufactured, supplied and/or sold by Apple Computer Inc. or its Authorized or Licensed Dealers.

Arabic numerals: The characters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0. Contrast with Chinese numerals, Hindi numerals, and Roman numerals.

Arabic script: A cursive script used in Arabic countries. Other writing systems such as Latin and Japanese also have a cursive handwritten form, but usually are typeset or printed in discrete letter form. Arabic script has only the cursive form, and is also used for Urdu, (which is spoken in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India), Farsi or Persian (which is spoken in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan).

ASCII: "American Standard Code for Information Interchange." A standard 7-bit character set used for information interchange. ASCII encodes the basic Latin alphabet and punctuation used in American English, but does not encode the accented characters used in many European languages.

Ascende: Any part of a lower case character which extends above the X-height.

ASP:
Active Server Pages (ASP). Tool or computer application that is used to create dynamic and interactive web pages.



B

Banner:
(1) Header or title of magazine or periodical publication and a Web page. Graphical advertisements are placed in banners on web sites, or (2) A flexible substrate (e.g. canvas) used to make a sign usually on a temporary basis.

Baseline: A conceptual line with respect to which successive characters are aligned.

Bevel:
(1) A process of giving a raised appearance by using highlighting colors and shadows, or (2) A mathematical process of outlining and mitering a vector object to give a raised appearance.

Beta software/version: A version of Software that is in its final development and/or testing stage that may contain bugs, errors and other glitches or problems.

Bidirectional (1): A communication standard between a computer and a device to send and receive packets of data.

Bidirectional (2): Languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Yiddish whose general flow of text proceeds horizontally from right to left, but numbers, English, and other left-to-right language text are written from left to right.

Bitmap image or graphic
: A graphic image stored as specific pattern of dots to form a picture when viewed from a distance.

Bit-mapped (mode):
The Paint graphics mode describes an image made of pixels where the pixel is either on (black) or off (white).

Bleed:
Extending the colors, background or objects outside (beyond) the defined page border or graphic by a set distance which is printed (usually on over-sized media/paper). The additional area that has been printed is then trimmed to the original or final page size.

Browser:
Software for accessing, viewing and managing web pages e.g. Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox.

Black (font):
A font that has more weight than the bold version of a typeface.

Blackletter (font): A Gothic (middle-ages) font style.

Block quote:
A long quotation - four or more lines - within body text, that is set apart in order to clearly distinguish the author's words from the words that the author is quoting.

Block shadow: A mathematical process of giving an extruded appearance in 3D to a vector object.

Body type:
Roman - normal, plain, or book - type used for long passages of text, such a stories in a newsletter, magazine, or chapters in a book. Generally sized from 9 point to 14 point.

Byline:
In newsletter/magazine layout, a credit line for the author of an article.



C

Cap height:
In typography, the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.

Caption:
An identification (title) for an illustration, usually a brief phrase. The caption should also support other content.

Cast Shadow:
A mathematical process of giving the appearance of a naturally cast shadow in 3D from a single light source (usually the Sun) to a vector object.

Character:
Any letter, figure, punctuation, symbol or space (whether visible or not).

Character set: A collection of characters in which a numeric code is assigned to each character so that it can be represented on a computer.

Chinese numerals: Chinese characters that represent numbers. For example, the Chinese characters for 1, 2, and 3 are written with one, two, and three horizontal brush strokes, respectively.

Code page: A synonym for character set.

Collation: Text comparison using language-sensitive rules as opposed to bitwise comparison of numeric character codes.
 
Cursive script: A script whose adjacent characters touch or are connected to each other. For example, Arabic script is cursive.

Clipart:
Raster or Vector based objects that form graphic art.

Color spacing:
Achieving a pleasing appearance after the line has been set normally.

Component: A separate and identifiable part of our Software that may be obtained separately for a fee or at no charge as described in the Software’s documentation that seamlessly integrates with the Software and is typically referred to as a plug-in, snap-in or module.

Computer Related typeface: A structured typeface that does meet standard typography conventions such as serif or sans serif which has a computer based aspect.

Cookie:
Cookies are the form of temporary files stored on the users computer. They identify web site users/visitors.

Crop marks:
On a mechanical, horizontal and vertical lines that indicate the edge of the printed piece.

Cropping:
For artwork, cutting out the extraneous parts of an image, usually a photograph.



D

Decorative typeface: A structured typeface that does meet standard typography conventions such as serif or sans serif.

Descender: In typography, the part of the letterform that dips below the baseline; usually refers to lowercase letters and some punctuation, but some typefaces have uppercase letters with descenders.

Diacritic: A modifying mark on a character. For example, the accent marks in Latin script (acute, tilde, and ogonek) and the tone marks in Thai. Synonymous with accent.

Dingbat typeface:
A typeface made up of non-alphabetic marker characters, such as arrows, asterisks, encircled numbers.

Discretionary hyphen:
a hyphen that will occur only if the word appears at the end of a line, not if the word appears in the middle of a line.

Display type:
Large and/or decorative type used for headlines and as graphic elements in display pieces. Common sizes are 14, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, 60, and 72 point.

Dither:
For digital halftones, the creation of a flat bitmap by simply running dots on or off. All dots are the same size there are simply more of them in dark areas and fewer of them in light areas - as opposed to deep bitmaps used in gray-scale images.

Dongle: A piece of hardware that physically attaches to a Computer or Device (typically through its Parallel, Serial or USB communications port) that is interrogated by the Software to determine its authenticity and a user's right to fully access the Software.

Double-byte Character Set (DBCS): A set of characters in which each character is represented by 2 bytes. Scripts such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean contain more characters than can be represented by 256 code points, thus requiring two bytes to uniquely represent each character. The term DBCS is often used to mean MBCS (multibyte character set).

DPI (dots per inch):
The unit of measurement used to describe the resolution of printed output. The most common desktop laser printers output at 300 dpi. Medium-resolution printers output at 600 dpi and up to 1200 dpi. Large Format Printers typically output at 50-2880 dpi and Image setters output at 1270-2540 dpi.

Drop shadow:
Drop shadows are those shadows dropping below text or images which gives the illusion of shadows from lighting and gives a 3D effect to the object.

Duotone:
A halftone image printed with two colors, one dark and the other light. The same photograph is half-toned twice, using the same screen at two different angles; combining the two improves the detail and contrast.



E

Egyptian type: Originally, from 1815 on, bold face with heavy slabs or square serifs.

Em space:
A space as wide as the point size of the types. This measurement is relative; in 12-point type an em space is 12 points wide, but in 24-point type an em space is 24 points wide.

Emboss:
Embossing a graphic image adds dimension to it by making the image appear as if it were carved as a projection from a flat background.

Encoding Scheme: A set of specific definitions that describe the philosophy used to represent character data. Examples of specifications in such a definition are: the number of bits, the number of bytes, the allowable ranges of bytes, maximum number of characters, and meanings assigned to some generic and specific bit patterns.

En space:
A space half as wide as the type is high (half an em space)

Export:
Exporting allows the user to save the file in another format to be opened in other programs.

Expanded (font):
A font in which the set widths of the characters are wider than in the standard typeface. (Note: not the inter character space - that is accomplished through letter spacing - but the characters themselves).

Extended type:
Typefaces that are abnormally wide horizontally.



F

Feather: A process of applying a blur to an image. This process gradually dissolves the area of the image on which the feather is applied.

Flash:
Vector graphic animation software developed by Adobe (formerly) Macromedia that creates browser-independent graphics (graphics that look the same across all browsers). An advantage of Flash animation is that the download time is relatively fast.

Flight/Pre Check:
Program used to identifies missing fonts, embedded graphics, bad traps, and many other possible problems.

Folio:
A page number, often set with running headers or footers.

Font:
A set of graphic characters that have a characteristic design, or a font designer's concept of how the graphic characters should appear. The characteristic design specifies the characteristics of its graphic characters. Examples of characteristics are shape, graphic pattern, style, size, weight, and increment.

Four-color process:
The printing process that reproduces colors by combining, cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). Six color is usually the addition of light cyan and magenta to improve color tones and enhance definition.

Forms:
Source of collecting information from the viewer or user.



G

Galleys: In traditional publishing, the type set in long columns, not laid out on a page. In desktop publishing, galleys can be printed out using a page-assembly program, for proofreading and copy fitting purposes.

GIF:
(Graphic Interchange format) GIF images display up to 256 colors. GIF images generally have very small file sizes and are the most widely used graphic format on the web. The low quality resulting from compression makes them unsuitable for professional printing or vectorizing (tracing).

Glyph: The actual shape (bit pattern, outline) of a character image. For example, an italic "A" and a roman "A" are two different glyphs representing the same underlying character. Strictly speaking, any two images that differ in shape constitute different glyphs. In this usage, glyph is a synonym for character image, or simply image.

GMT: Greenwich mean time. In the 1840s the standard time kept by the Royal Greenwich Observatory located at Greenwich, England was established for all of England, Scotland, and Wales, replacing many local times in use in those days. Subsequently GMT became the official time reference for the world until 1972 when it was subsumed by the atomic clock-based coordinated universal time (UTC). GMT is also known as universal time.

Gradient: A function in our graphic software that allows the user to fill an object/image with a smooth transition of colors, for example a dark blue, gradually becoming lighter or green, gradually becoming red, then orange.

Greeked text:
In page-assembly programs, text that appears as gray bars approximating the lines of type rather than actual characters. This speeds up the amount of time it takes to draw images on the screen (rarely used anymore due to the advent of faster computers).

Graphic design:
Visual representation of an idea or concept. The term is used as a collective name for all activities relating to visual design, including web design, logo design etc.

Grayscale:
A color mode in which Black and White colors and in combination.

Gutter:
In double-sided documents, the combination of the inside margins of facing pages; the gutter should be wide enough to accommodate binding.

GUI: Graphic User Interface allows user to use graphics, picture and icons instead of text. VinylMaster uses an advanced GUI interface.



H

Halftone: A tone that is halfway between highlight and dark shadow. The tones are broken up by fine screen into different sizes of dots.

Handwrirtten typeface: A typeface that does meet standard typography conventions such as serif or sans serif.

Hangul: The Korean alphabet that consists of fourteen consonants and ten vowels. Hangul was created by a team of scholars in the 15th century at the behest of King Sejong.

Head: Line on the top of the body of content which is in big and bold fonts.

Hexadecimal: A number system used for web colors. The first six numbers used in this 16 based numbering system are 0-9 and the next 5 are A-F.

Hiragana: A Japanese phonetic syllabary. The symbols are cursive or curvilinear in style.

Hue: the actual color of an object. Hue is measured as a location on a color wheel, expressed in degrees. Hue is also understood as the names of specific colors, such as blue, red, yellow, etc.



I

Ideographic language: A written language in which each character (ideogram) represents a thing or an idea (but not necessarily a particular word or phrase). An example of such a language is written Chinese (Zhongen).

Interlace:
A technique of retrieving images in different stages, with rough image appearing first and gradually getting more refined.

Italic: Fonts with a tilt to the right. (Italic)



J

Jamo: A set of consonants and vowels used in Korean Hangul. The word jamo is derived from ja, which means consonant, and mo, which means vowel.

JPG/JPEG:
Joint Photographic Experts Group, file format to store and retrieve images.



K

Kanji: Chinese characters or ideograms used in Japanese writing. The characters may have different meanings from their Chinese counterparts.

Katakana: A Japanese phonetic syllabary used primarily for foreign names and place names and words of foreign origin. The symbols are angular, while those of Hiragana are cursive. Katakana is written left to right, or top to bottom.

Kern:
To bring together characters, for a better fit of strokes and white space. In display type, characters often need to be kerned because the white space between characters at large sizes is more noticeable.

Kicker: A brief phrase or sentence lead-in to a story or chapter; usually set smaller than the headline or chapter title, but larger than text type.

Knockout: In printing, when one color is to be printed immediately adjacent to another color; actually they are printed with a slight overlap.



L

Landscape: Width wise orientation of document. In this style document width is more than its height.

Language: With respect to Engravers, Vinyl Cutters, Plotters, Printers and related Devices is the software codes used to communicate between VinylMaster and the Device. Also knows as the Emulation. Typical examples are CSR, DMPL, HPGL and RTL.

Lap register: Used with knockouts, images of different colors are slightly overlapped, to avoid the appearance of a white line between the two inks.

Leader: A line of dots or dashes to lead the eye across the page to separated copy.

Leading: (pronounced "led-ding") the space between lines of type, traditionally measured baseline-to-baseline, in points.

Legacy: Any version of software that has been subsequently superseded by a newer version.

Letterforms: In typography, the shapes of the characters.

License Management Regime: The system employed by Future Corporation and the Software to manage the Software's Licensing on a computer.

License Remaining: The contiguous time remaining (usually reported in days) before the License expires on a computer.

License Status: The current state of the Software License on a computer.

License Type: The method of payment for the Software License.

Logotype: A symbol, mark, or identifying name. Commonly known as a logo, is the graphic element of a trademark or brand, which is set in a special typeface/font, or arranged in a particular, but legible, way. The shape, color, typeface, etc. should be distinctly different from others in a similar market.

Lowercase: The small alphabetic characters, whether accented or not, as distinguished from the capital alphabetic characters. The concept of case applies to alphabets such as Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek, but not to Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and many other scripts.



M

MBCS: Multibyte Character Set. A set of characters in which each character is represented by 1 or more bytes.

Mezzotint: For a halftone, a special screen that produces connected, dusty-looking dots.

Multilingual: An application such as VinylMaster that can simultaneously display and manipulate text in multiple languages.

Multimedia:
Combination of video, music, lighting, CD/DVD-ROM and the internet for learning, work or teaching.



N

Negative space: In design, the space where the target in artwork isn't, often the background; in a publication, the parts of the page not occupied by type or graphics.

Nested stories: In newsletter/magazine layout, stories run in multiple columns at different column depths.

Novelty typeface: A typeface that does meet standard typography conventions such as serif or sans serif.



O

OEM: A variation of the Software that is exclusively included (bundled) and licensed by Future Corporation with a piece of third party equipment or hardware (machines and devices) including but not limited to: CNC, engraving, laser, plotting, printing, routing and vinyl cutting machines and devices by the manufacturer and/or their agents and dealers to end-users

Objected-oriented (mode): Draw graphics mode. A set of algorithms describe graphic form in abstract geometrical terms, as object primitives.

Outline: The outer edge of text or graphic.



P

Pantone matching system: The Pantone matching system is used for specifying and blending match colors. It provides designers with swatches of over 700 colors and gives printers the recipes for making those colors.

Pica: A measurement used in typography for column widths and other space specifications in a page layout. There are 12 points in a pica, and approximately 6 picas to an inch.

Pinyin: A system to phonetically render Chinese ideograms in a Latin alphabet.

Pixel (picture element): The smallest unit that a device can address. Most often refers to display monitors, a pixel being the smallest spot of phosphor that can be lit up on the screen.

PNG: Portable Network Graphics. Bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. The PNG format displays images without jagged edges while keeping file sizes relatively small, making them popular on the web.

Point: A measurement used in typography for type size, leading, and other space specifications in a page layout.

PPI: Stands for pixels per inch. PPI specifies the resolution of an input device, such as a scanner, digital camera, or monitor. Web page resolution ranges from 72-96 pixels per inch.

Posterization: For a halftone, the reduction of the number of gray scales to produce a high-contrast image.

Printer font: High-resolution bitmaps or font outline masters used for the actual laying down of the characters on the printed page, as opposed to display on the screen.

Process color separation: In commercial printing, used for reproduction of color photographs. The various hues are created by superimposition of halftone dots of the process colors: cyan (a greenish blue), magenta (a purplish red), yellow, and black.

Product Life: The period of time from where a version of the Software is released for licensing to the public (the current version) and remains current up until such time as a subsequent or replacement version (Upgrade) is released for licensing to the public.

Product Serial Number or PSN: The unique and identifying number for each Future Corporation Software product.



Q

Quick Time Video: Video streaming technology developed by Apple.



R

Resolution: The crispness of detail or fineness of grain in an image. Screen resolution is measured in dots by lines (for example, 1280 x 1024); printer resolution is measured in dpi (for example, 300 dpi).

Reverse
: A method used in printing where background color is generally black color or where background becomes inked and the image and lettering appears in the color of the paper.

Reverse Fill: A solid shape in an off-white color so that it may be viewed over and above any other shapes that are of the same color behind it, making it otherwise impossible to see.

RGB:
An additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors.

Run-around: Type that is set to fit the contour of an illustration, photo, ornament or initial.

Run-in heading: A heading set on the same line as the text, usually in bold or italic type.

Running heads/feet:
Titles (often accompanied by page numbers) set at the top/bottom of text pages of a multi-paged publication.



S

Sans Serif Typeface: A typeface that does not have the small features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the Latin word "sine", via the French word sans, meaning "without".

Saturation: Intensity of color. It refers to the degree of difference from gray. High saturation will appear to be bright and low saturation will appear dull.

Script: A set of characters used to write a particular set of languages. For example, the Latin (or Roman) script is used to write English, French, Spanish, and most other European languages; the Cyrillic script is used to write Russian and Serbian.

Security-1 or S1: An extension, variation or modification of the Software that (i) is for use within a secured or protected internal network, and/or (ii) provides for restricted user levels and access, and/or (iii) has built-in mechanisms to track all access and use of the Software, and/or (iv) implements strong encryption to protect Output and Export files.

Serif: A typeface has semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface (or seriffed typeface).

Solarization: Over exposure that results in reversal of a photographic image.

Spot Color: Refers to the use of solid color usually defined as a Lab color or a separate and printable ink channel.

Strong Encryption: A method of data encryption that is less susceptible to having its key discovered by a third party through what is commonly referred to as brute force attack, hacking or cracking.



T

Tags: A set of characters used in the mark up language for providing formatting information of a document.

Template: A document that can be changed or customized and saved with a new name without affecting the original document.

Text wrap: A feature that sets paragraph text to physically wrap around the perimeter of another object with or without an offset.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): For digital gray-scale halftones, a device-independent graphics file format. TIFF files can be used on IBM/compatible or Macintosh computers, and may be output to PostScript printers.

Type alignment: The distribution of white space in a line of type where the characters at their normal set width do not fill the entire line length exactly. Type maybe aligned left, right, centered, or right-justified.

Typeface: The set of characters created by a type designer, including uppercase and lowercase alphabetical characters, numbers, punctuation, and special characters. A single typeface contains many fonts, at different sizes and styles.

Type families: A group of typefaces of the same basic design but with different weights and proportions.



U

Update: A separate component of Software designed to update, modify, repair, remove or fix problems identified by Future Corporation with the Software that includes fixing bugs, replacing or removing tools and/or features and improving the usability or performance of the Software (e.g. V1.0 of the Software may be replaced with V1.1 of the Software, with V1.1 an update from V1.0, with V1.1 potentially followed by V1.2 and so on and so forth).

Upgrade: The complete replacement of the Software with a newer version of the same branded Software, that may include but is not limited to: error corrections, modifications, removal/replacement of tools and features, compatibility improvements, new tools and features, additions and/or enhancements to the Software (e.g. V1.0 of the Software will be replaced with V2.0 of the Software, with V2.0 an upgrade from V1.0, with V2.0 subsequently followed by V3.0 and so on and so forth).



V

Vector: A scalable shape generated from mathematical descriptions that determine its position, length and direction(s).

Volume License: Either (i) a Site License granted in single licenses, or (ii) a License Pack usually granted in multiples of five (5) five licenses, or (iii) License Seats usually granted in multiples of one hundred (100) licenses.



W

Weight: denotes the thickness of a letter stroke, light, extra-light, "regular," medium, demi-bold, bold, extra bold and ultra bold.

White space: in designing publication, the areas where there is no text or graphics - essentially, the negative space of the page design.

Widow: in a page layout, short last lines of paragraphs - usually unacceptable when separated from the rest of the paragraph by a column break, and always unacceptable when separated by a page break.

X

X: One of the three CIE tristimulus values; the red primary.

x-height:
The height of the lowercase "s." Sometimes referred to as "body height." More generally, the height of the lowercase letters.

Y

Y: One of the three CIE tristimulus values; equal to the luminous reflectance or transmittance ; the green primary



Z


Z: One of the three CIE tristimulus values; the blue primary.

Z-Order:
The relative stacking order of objects between each other (above and below).

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