S/S (Same Size): an instruction to reproduce to the same size as the original.
Saddle Stitching: a method of binding where the folded pages are stitched through the spine from the outside, using wire staples. Usually limited to 64 pages size.
Scale: the means within a program to reduce or enlarge the amount of space an image will occupy. Some programs maintain the aspect ratio between width and height whilst scaling, thereby avoiding distortion.
Scaling: a means of calculating the amount of enlargement or reduction necessary to accommodate a photograph within the area of a design.
Scamp: a sketch of a design showing the basic concept.
Scanner: an electronic device used to convert a continuous tone original into a series of halftone dots for printing
Score: a crease put on paper to help it fold better
Screen-Printing: often called silk screen printing from the material formerly used for the screen. A stencil process with the printing and non-printing areas on one surface. The printing (image) area is open and produced by various forms of stencil. The substrate is placed under the screen and ink is passed across the top of the screen and forced through the open (printing) areas on to the substrate below.
Scum: traces of printing ink which temporarily adhere, during litho printing, to the non-image area of the plate due to its inability to repel ink.
Selective Binding: recent developments in binding technology allow specific sections to be included or excluded from a single copy within a print run dependant upon electronic information linked to the address file of the recipient. This is known as selective binding.
Section: a folded sheet of paper forming part of a book; sections are sometimes made of insetted folded sheets of four, eight sixteen or more pages.
Security Paper: paper incorporating special features (dyes, watermarks etc) for use on cheques.
Set Off: the accidental transfer of the printed image from one sheet to the back of another.
Set Solid: type set without leading (line spacing) between the lines. Type is often set with extra space; eg 9 point set on 10 point.
Sew: to fasten the sections of a book together by passing thread through the centre fold of each section in such a way as to secure it to the slips; in distinction from stitch.
Sheet: a single piece of paper. In poster work refers to the number of Double Crown sets in a full size poster.
Sheet Fed: a printing press which prints single sheets of paper, not reels.
Sheetwise: a method of printing a section. Half the pages from a section are imposed and printed. The remaining half of the pages are then printed on the other side of the sheet.
Show-Through: see opacity.
Short Grain Press: a press where the shortest side of the finished product runs parallel to the grain of the paper.
Shrink Wrap: method of packing printed products by surrounding them with plastic, then shrinking by heat.
Side Heading: a subheading set flush into the text at the left edge.
Side Stabbed or Stitched: the folded sections of a book are stabbed through with wire staples at the binding edge, prior to the covers being drawn on.
Side Stitching: to stitch through the side from front to back at the binding edge with thread or wire. (See stabbing).
Sidebar: a vertical bar positioned usually on the right hand side of the screen.
Sidelay: the datum point on the press, at 90 degrees to the grip edge, which controls the lateral position of the sheet. The same Sidelay must then be used when trimming the sheet to ensure that the image position remains constant. Sidelay is the term used both for the edge of the printed sheet and the mechanical device on the press which determines the position.
Signature: in printing and binding, a printed sheet after it has been folded. Also called a section.
Signature: a letter or figure printed on the first page of each section of a book and used as a guide when collating and binding.
Sixteen Sheet: a poster size measuring 120in x 80in (3050mm x 2030mm).
Size: a solution based on starch or casein which is added to the paper to reduce ink absorbency.
Skin Packaging: method of packaging by which thin, clear plastic is shrunk onto an object backed by printed card.
Slurring: a smearing of the image, caused by paper slipping during the impression stage.
Small Caps: a set of capital letters which are smaller than standard and are equal in size to the lower case letters for that typesize.
Snap-To (guide or rules): a WYSIWYG program feature for accurately aligning text or graphics. The effect is exercised by various non-printing guidelines such as column guides, margin guides which automatically places the text or graphics in the correct position flush to the column guide when activated by the mouse. The feature is optional and can be turned off.
Soft Back/Cover: a book bound with a paper back cover.
Soft or Discretionary Hyphen: a specially coded hyphen which is only displayed when formatting of the hyphenated word puts it at the end of a line.
Spine: the binding edge at the back of a book.
Spine Glued: a product which is held together with a thin film of adhesive running down the spine of each page. Can be produced in-line on some web presses.
Spiral Binding: a book bound with wires in spiral form inserted through holes punched along the binding.
Spot Varnish: the application of varnish to selective areas to create a highlight or contrast effect.
Spoilage: planned paper waste for all printing operations.
SRA: a paper size in the series of ISO international paper sizes slightly larger than the A series allowing the printer extra space to bleed.
Stabbing: to stitch with wire through the side of gathered work at the binding edge.
Stet: used in proof correction work to cancel a previous correction. From the Latin; ‘let it stand’.
Stitch: to sew, staple or otherwise fasten together by means of thread or wire the leaves or signatures of a book or pamphlet. The different styles of stitching are; double stitch, where two loops of a single thread are fastened in the centre of the fold. Machine stitch, where a lock stitch is made; saddle or saddle-back stitch, where the centre of the fold is placed across the saddle in the machine and wire staples are driven through and clenched on the inside, side stitch, where the thread or wire is stitched through the side of the fold; single stitch, where a single loop is drawn through the centre and tied; wire stitch, in which staples are made, inserted and clenched by a machine from a continuous piece of wire, as in the saddle back stitch; as distinct from sew.
Stochastic Screening: also known as FM (Frequency Modulated) screening. With conventional halftone screening, the variable dot size formed, creates the optical illusion of various tonal values; however, the dot centre pitch distance is constant. In the case of FM screening systems, the dots are randomly distributed to create this tonal change illusion. The greater the number of dots located within a specific area, the darker the resultant tone. The dots produced in this way are usually smaller than conventional halftone dots, resulting in improved definition, although greater care and attention to detail is required in plate-making stage.
Strawboard: a thicker board made from straw pulp, used in bookwork and in the making of envelopes and cartons. Not suitable for printing.
Strike-Through: the effect of ink soaking through the printed sheet.
Style Sheet: a collection of tags specifying page layout styles, paragraph settings and type specifications which can be set up by the user and saved for use in other documents. Some page makeup programs, such as Ventura, come with a set of style sheets.
Subscript: the small characters set below the normal letters or figures.
Supercalendered Paper: a smooth finished paper with a polished appearance, produced by rolling the paper between calenders. Examples of this are high gloss and art papers.
Superscript: the small characters set above the normal letters or figures.
Swatch: a colour sample.