Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Set width. In metal type, the width of
the body upon which a letter is cast. In
phototype and digital type, the horizontal
width of a letterform measured in units,
including the normal space before and after
the character. This interletter space can
be increased or decreased to control the
tightness or looseness of the fit.
Shot. A segment of a film. Several frames
make up a shot. Several shots make up a
scene.
Shoulder. In metal type, the flat top of the
type body that surrounds the raised printing
surface of the letterform.
Sidebar. A narrow column of text, separated
from the main text by a box or rule and
containing a secondary article.
Side head. A title or other heading material
placed to the side of a type column.
Slab serifs. Square or rectangular serifs
that align horizontally and vertically to
the baseline and are usually the same (or
heavier) weight as the main strokes of the
letterform. See Egyptian .
Slug. A line of metal type cast on a
linecasting machine, such as the Linotype.
Also, strips of metal spacing material in
thicknesses of 6 points or more.
Small capitals. A set of capital letters having
the same height as the lowercase x-height,
frequently used for cross-reference and
abbreviations. Also called small caps .
Smoothing. The electronic process of
eliminating jaggies (the uneven staircase
effect on diagonal or curved lines).
Solid. Lines of type that are set without
additional interline space. Also called
set solid .
Sorts. In metal type, material that is not
part of a regular font, such as symbols,
piece fractions, and spaces. Also, individual
characters used to replace worn-out type in
a font.
Stet. A proofreader's mark meaning that
copy marked for correction should not be
changed; rather, any instructions for changes
should be ignored and the text should be left
as originally set.
Stress. The gradual variation in the
thickness of a curved character part or
stroke; often used for any variation in the
thickness of a character part or stroke.
Style sheets. Formatting instructions
such as type weights, size, and leading for
creating standardized documents.
Subscript. A small character beneath (or
adjacent to and slightly below) another
character.
Superscript. A small character above (or
adjacent to and slightly above) another
character.
Swash letters. Letters ornamented with
flourishes or flowing tails.
Syntax. In grammar, the way in which
words or phrases are put together to form
sentences. In design, the connecting or
ordering of typographic elements into a
v isua l u n it y.
Uppercase. See Capitals .
URL. Abbreviation for uniform resource
locator. A location pointer name used to
identify the location of a file on a server
connected to the World Wide Web.
T
Text. The main body of written or printed
material, as opposed to display matter,
footnotes, appendices, etc.
Text type. See Body type .
Thumbnail. A miniature image of a page,
either a small planning sketch made by a
designer or a reduction in a page-layout
program.
TIFF. Abbreviation for tag image file format.
A file format for encoding pictures as high-
resolution bitmapped images.
Tilting shot. A camera movement used in
film or simulated in animation where the
subject is stationary and the camera moves
up and down.
Tracking. The overall tightness or looseness
of the spacing between all characters in
a line or block of text. Sometimes used
interchangeably with kerning , which more
precisely is the reduction in spacing between
a specific pair of letters.
Tracking shot. A camera movement used in
film or simulated in animation where the
subject is stationary and the camera moves
forward or backward through space, or
parallel to the action.
Transitional. Classification of typestyles
combining aspects of both Old Style and
Modern typefaces; for example, Baskerville.
Type color. Optical effect that gives the
illusion of lighter or darker text and which
is the result of visual qualities inherent in
individual typefaces and the spacing of
letters, words, and lines of type.
Typeface. The design of alphabetical and
numerical characters unified by consistent
visual properties.
Type family. The complete range of
variations of a typeface design, including
roman, italic, bold, expanded, condensed,
and other versions.
Type-high. The standard foot-to-face height
of metal types; 0.9186 inches in English-
speaking countries.
Typesetting. The composing of type by any
method or process.
Type specimen. A typeset sample produced
to show the visual properties of a typeface.
Typography. Originally the composition of
printed matter from movable type. Now the
art and process of typesetting by any system
or method.
V
Verso. In publication design, the left-hand
page. Page two always appears on a verso, as
do all even-numbered pages. The right-hand
page is called the recto.
W
Weight. The lightness or heaviness of a
typeface, which is determined by ratio of
the stroke thickness to character height.
White space. The “negative” area
surrounding a letterform. See Counter and
Counterform .
Widow. A very short line that appears at the
end of a paragraph, column, or page, or at
the top of a column or page. These awkward
typographic configurations should be
corrected editorially.
Width tables. Collections of information
about how much horizontal room each
character in a font should occupy, often
accompanied by information about special
kerning pairs or other exceptions.
Wipe. A transition used in film in which the
subject is replaced with another image in a
systematic motion, usually from left to right.
Woodtype. Hand-set types cut from wood
by a mechanical router. Formerly used for
large display sizes that were not practical for
metal casting.
Wordspacing. The spatial interval between
words. In setting justified body type, space
is added between words to extend each line
to achieve flush left and right edges. See
Interword spacing .
WYSIWYG. Abbreviation for “what you see
is what you get,” pronounced Wizzywig.
This means the image on the screen is
identical to the image that will be produced
as final output.
X
x-height. The height of lowercase letters in
a font, excluding characters with ascenders
and descenders. This is most easily
measured on the lowercase x .
Z
Zooming shot. A camera movement used
in film or simulated in animation where
the subject is stationary and the camera gets
closer to the subject over time.
U
Unjustified type. Lines of type set with
equal interword spacing, resulting in
irregular line lengths. Also called ragged .
 
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