A

align, alignment The positioning of text within the page margins. Alignment can be flush left, flush right, justified or centered. Flush left and flush right are sometimes referred to as left justified and right justified.
ascender Parts of lowercase letter (such as k, b, and d) that extend above mid-line (x-height) and sometimes above caps

B

baseline The imaginary horizontal line upon which typeset characters appear to rest
base align Arrangement of text elements and art so that indicated items fall on the same baseline
base to base measurement from the baseline of one object to the baseline of another
binder’s creep The slight but cumulative extension of the edges of each inserted spread or signature beyond the edges of the one that encloses it in a saddle stitch bind.
binding The fastening of the assembled sheets or signatures along an edge of a publication
bleed to extend beyond the trim (standard is 1/8 inch) bleed top, left, right, bottom to bleed off page in the indicated direction
blend gradient or graduated screen that goes from one percentage to another in increments too small to be noticeable
blow up A photographic or lithographic term used to explain the enlargement of an original to another larger size
body type Text or general text: type used for the main or general text of a printed piece, as opposed to heads or other display material
bold (boldface) type that is heavier than the text type with which it is used.
brace { }
bracket [ ]
bullet a common pi character, usually used to draw attention to listed items, e.g. •
butt to adjoin without overlapping, as, for example, two pieces of film or two colors of ink

C

C abbreviation for cyan see process color
C/lc caps and lower case
C/sc caps and small caps
caps capital letters
caps and lowercase the first letter of a word is capitalized with following letters in lower case; used in titles, heads, figures, tables, etc. (exceptions: articles, prepositions of 4 letters or more, conjunctions)
caps and small caps two sizes of capital letters in one style of type; the small caps are approximately x-height
caption explanation following a figure or table number
case the condition of letters, either capital a non-capital (upper or lower case)
center text horizontally center text block horizontally in measure defined (width), so there is equal space to left and right of text
center text vertically center text block vertically in measure defined (depth), so that there is equal space above and below
character numeral, letter of the alphabet, punctuation mark, or other symbol in a font of type
clear space see visual space
CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The four so-called process colors (technically, they are “subtractive” colors) that are used in four-color printed reproduction.
color gamut Every color combination that is possible to produce with a given set of colorants on a given device or system.
color palette a set of colors used in a book identified by numbers and percent of color.
color separation the separation of the colors of a full-color transparency or print by photographing it with separate color filters.
column one of two or more vertical sections of a printed page separated by a rule or blank space.
compound word a word made up of two or more existing words, often separated by a hyphen (e.g., bull-headed)
condensed type narrow or slender font.
control strips Series of color bars and percent tints placed just outside final image area; used to help maintain consistency during print runs.
copy manuscript, picture, artwork, and other material that is to used in the production of pages for printing; body of text as opposed to illustrations
copy-editing correcting and preparing material for typesetting
copyfitting allocation of how much space a given amount of text will take up in a given point size and typeface; adjustment of the typesetting specifications of a body of text in order to make it fit within a given space.
crop marks term used for corner marks on photos indicating where photo is to be cut off; also intersecting perpendicular lines on proofs representing the trim of the page.
CTP Computer To Plate. CTP technology involves the laser-imaging of printing plates. The laser is driven by digital data from a computer. Imagesetters and platesetters are typically used to expose the plates. Aluminum and polyester plates may be imaged using CTP technology.
cursive (script) form of writing or printing in which letters are connected rather than separated by spacing; This is a sample of cursive or script
cyan subtractive primary color that appears blue-green and absorbs red light; also process blue see process color