Fine Print

Fine Print Knowledge Center

The online guide to print and design.

Introduction
A Brief History of Printing
PrePress
Planning and Strategy
Design Tips
Color Management
File Submission
Proofing
Materials and Stocks
Inks
Platemaking
Types of Printing
Offset Lithography
Digital Printing
Screen Printing
Gravure
Thermography
Flexography
Letterpress
Large Format
Specialty Printing
3D Printing
Promotional
Security Printing
Green Printing
Types of Finishes
Coatings
Binding
Folding
Scoring
Die Cutting
Embossing
Foil Stamping
Perforations
Dog-Eared

Book pages which have been folded over in the corners. Some people do this to mark their place in a book.

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DOI

Digital Object Identifier

A digital object identifier (DOI) is both a unique identifier (like the ISBN) and a new kind of permanent hyperlink on the Internet.

As an identifier it provides some of the same benefits as the ISBN—in fact the ISBN itself can be used as the suffix of the DOI, especially where the DOI is used for a book at the title level.

But the benefits of the DOI extend beyond the physical book at the title level—e.g. it can include all the different formats of the book (print, audio, HTML, PDF, e-Book) and also individual chapters, illustrations or other “components.”

It can also facilitate supply-chain interactions in the online environment because of its dual role as both identifier and actual hyperlink.

DOI

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Dollar String

Dollar amounts that relate to the donation history of the recipient, generally found on the response card or personalized letter.

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DOM

Document Object Model

An XML or HTML interface consisting of objects and methods used by programs and scripts to dynamically access and revise the content structure and style of documents.

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Domain

A managed group of users and host systems, such as .edu (educational institution), .com (business), .gov (government), and .org (non-profit organization) on the Internet.

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Domain Name

An alphabetic name following the @ symbol in an Internet address, identifying an Internet site. This unique name is registered and cannot be used by anyone else. It is generally composed of the organization’’s name and the top level host type, such as organization.com.

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Dongle

A security device that attaches to a computer and blocks or controls the access to certain applications.

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DOS

Disk Operating System

An operating system residing in the main memory on a PC.

Disk Operating System (specifically) and disk operating system (generically), most often abbreviated as DOS (not to be confused with the DOS family of disk operating systems for the IBM PC compatible platform), refer to operating system software used in most computers that provides the abstraction and management of secondary storage devices and the information on them (e.g., file systems for organizing files of all sorts).

Such software is referred to as a disk operating system when the storage devices it manages are made of rotating platters (such as hard disks or floppy disks).

In the early days of microcomputing, memory space was often limited, so the disk operating system was an extension of the operating system.

This component was only loaded if it was needed. Otherwise, disk-access would be limited to low-level operations such as reading and writing disks at the sector-level.

In some cases, the disk operating system component (or even the operating system) was known as DOS.

Sometimes, a disk operating system can refer to the entire operating system if it is loaded off a disk and supports the abstraction and management of disk devices.

An example is DOS/360. On the PC compatible platform, an entire family of operating systems was called DOS.

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Dos-a-Dos

Two separate books bound together so that each cover represents the cover for a different title.

The Ace paperbacks or many science fiction books were issued this way.

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Dot

A single point or smallest part of an image that is identifiable. Also referred to as a pixel, spot or pel.

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Dot Angle

The angle of the dot is the angle at which the dots chain together. The problem with most computer graphics programs is that the angles of the halftones are generally great for offset printing but not as effective for silk screen printing.

Most computer programs use 45 degrees as the default angle. Actually, 20 to 25 degrees is good for basic halftone work. If you are doing a process color job you can try Cyan 15, Magenta 45, Yellow and Black 75, or Cyan 22.5, Magenta 52.5, Yellow and Black 82.5.

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Dot drop out

Refers to tonal values and the point up to which highlight dots are burnt out or are just available, expressed as a percentage of area coverage. The drop-out point of tone values can be determined by printing the related test wedges.

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Dot Etching

Color correction of an image resulting from the alteration of the halftone dot size.

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Dot Gain

When halftone dots print larger on the press than what they originally were on the plate or film, resulting in a loss of detail and lower contrast in the image.

This results in some loss of detail. Some degree of dot gain is an unnavoidable part of the printing process and there are settings in a number of desktop publishing tools to allow for this.

It is predictable to a point and can be compensated for when film and plates are produced Dot gain often occurs in long press runs, due to plates and/or pressure settings wearing or changing through out the run.

Adobe Photoshop, in particular, has settings to allow for dot gain under it’s color settings preferences.

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Dot Matrix Printer

An impact printer that forms characters and graphics by printing a series of dots.

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Dot Pitch

The diagonal measurement between phosphor dots on a display screen, measured in millimeters. The smaller the measurement, the better the image will be.

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Dot Slurring

Smearing or elongation at the trailing edges of halftone dots.

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Dot Spread

Also known as Dot Gain – The enlargement of halftone dots on the press which results in a loss of detail and makes the image darker. Dot gain occurs most often in long press runs, when plates and/or pressure settings can wear or change.

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Dot touch

Contact made between two dots in the simulation of gray levels presented in halftone cells. With a square dot, dot touch will occur at a gray value of about 40 percent, with a round dot it will only occur at about 60 percent, and with an elliptical dot it will occur at 50 and 75 percent. With coarser screens, such as in laser printers, dot touch is less visible.

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Dots, Halftone

The individual subdivisions of a printed surface created with a halftone screen.

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Double

Term given to a word that has erroneously been typeset twice in a text.

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Double Black Printing

Printing the same image in the same color twice to increase the density of that color. Done with black to get it dense enough

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Double Burning

The process of using two or more negatives to burn one complete image onto a plate or print.

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Double Coated

Coating a paper twice on one side. Should not be confused with coating on both sides.

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Double Deckle

Paper that has is deckled on two parallel edges.

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Double Elephant Folio

A book that is up to 50” tall.

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Double Exposure

Two pictures taken on one frame of film, or two images printed on one piece of photographic paper.

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Double Loop Wire Binding

Binding that consists of a series of double wire loops from a continuous pre-formed wire which are inserted into pages that have been punched with square or round holes.

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Double page spread

two facing pages of newspaper or magazine where the textual material on the left hand side continues across to the right hand side. Abbreviated to DPS.

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Double Parallel Fold

A type of fold where the piece is folded in half and then folded in half again. The folds are parallel to each other. Also known as a quarter fold.

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