Ghosting – Printing Terms Glossary

Known as gloss ghosting as well. A condition happening during the printing process when vapors from drying ink on one side of a press sheet interact chemically with dry ink or blank paper on sheets in contact with or on the reverse side of the same sheet making unintended faint images.

 

Electronic Proof – Printing Terms Glossary

A procedure of generating a prepress proof in which paper is electronically revealed to the color separation negatives and passed through electrically charged pigmented toners, which adhere electrostatically, ensuing in the finished proof.

Dampening – Printing Terms Glossary

A necessary part of the offset printing process whereby rollers distribute a solution to the plate, which covers the non-printing area of the plate, repelling ink in those fields. Some newer presses use a waterless ink technology, which does not use dampening.

 

Color bars – Printing Terms Glossary

A color trial strip that is printed on the waste part of a press sheet. It assists a press operator to monitor and assure the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration as well as dot gain. It can include a Star Target as well, which is designed to detect inking and press problems.

Zip file – Printing Terms Glossary

Zipping a file compresses one or more files into a smaller archive. It takes up less hard drive space as well as less time to transfer across a network or the internet.