Magazine and Advertising Glossary of Terms

Camera Ready Ad – An ad submitted to the Advertising Department on CD or disk, or via e-mail, in a ready to use format. (See PDF, Quark File, and Tif file). A camera ready ad requires no design work by the Publications Department, and once tested (see File Testing) may be pulled directly into the magazine. It is recommended that a camera-ready ad be proofread thoroughly prior to submission.

DPI – Dots Per Inch. This is the measurement that determines spacing between each dot that makes up a photograph. The lower the number of dots per inch, the more space between each dot; therefore the lower the printing quality. This is often determined by the settings on digital cameras or when photos are scanned on a scanner.

Picas - A pica is a typesetting unit of measurement commonly used for measuring lines of type or size of a page. One pica equals 12 points. There are 6 picas to an inch. Also used to describe a typewriter type that prints 10 characters per inch

PDF - Portable Document Format or PDF is a file format created by Adobe Systems, Inc. PDF uses the PostScript printer description language and is highly portable across computer platforms. PDF documents have a .pdf file extension. A PDF can be used to:

• Share files with others who don't have the same software
• Share files with others who use a different platform (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.)
• Share files that will look the same (layout, fonts) on multiple computer systems
• Share files that can be protected from unauthorized viewing, printing, copying, or editing
• Publish electronic documents, ebooks, etc.
• Print files to many different types of printers, and all look essentially the same
• Create files with annotations, hyperlinks, and bookmarks that can be shared via email and on the Web
• Create interactive forms that can be shared via email and the Web
• Create files that are more efficient than PostScript or native file formats typically used in commercial printing

TIF - One of the most commonly used and versatile graphics formats in desktop publishing, TIFF or Tagged Image File Format is a bitmap graphics format that is ideal for high resolution printing to PostScript printers and imagesetters. Originally created as a scanning format, TIFF offers great flexibility for use in page layout applications in part due to multiple color modes, multiple compression types, and cross-platform compatibility. TIFF images support both embedded paths and alpha channels which can be used to create transparent backgrounds for images in a page layout application.

JPEG or JPG - a term for any graphic image file produced by using a JPEG standard. A JPEG file is created by choosing from a range of compression qualities. When you create a JPEG or convert an image from another format to a JPEG, you are asked to specify the quality of image you want. Since the highest quality results in the largest file, you can make a trade-off between image quality and file size. Generally, the largest file is preferred for advertisement images. The JPEG is one of the image file formats supported on the World Wide Web, usually with the file suffix of ".jpg".

Attachment - Any file linked to an email message is an attachment. Many mail packages use MIME encoding to attach files. This allows users to exchange files/documents through email. Usually, an attachment via e-mail is signaled by an image of a paperclip or another icon that needs to be downloaded by the recipient.

Live area – The dimension referring to the area of an advertisement on a page, that is not trimmed. All ad content must fit into these dimensions to ensure nothing gets cut off during the printing process. Please contact the publications department for dimensions.

Trim size – The dimension referring to the actual size of the publication; the complete publication is “trimmed” or cut off during the printing process. Please contact the publications department for dimensions.

Full bleed – Printing term used when an image or inked area extends to the edge of all four sides of the printed piece. Better known as "borderless".