Industry Terms

A \| B \| C \| D \| E \| F \| G \| H \| I \| J \| K \| L \| M \| N \| O \| P \| Q \| R \| S \| T \| U \| V \| W \| X \| Y \| Z
Walk-Off A problem that occurs on a plate on which part of the image comes off.
Wallet Flap Envelope An envelope that has diagonal seams and is available in standard business envelope sizes. It has a square flap which extends down about half the size of the envelope. The seal flap also has extra gum protection.
WAN (Wide Area Network) Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building, connected by private or public communication lines.
Warm Color A color with a yellowish or reddish cast.
Washup The clean up of a press after the printing run.
Waste Paper that is unusable due to damage or makeready at the press or in bindery.
Water Based Ink An ink with a water-soluble binder.
Water Color Paper A textured paper used for water color painting.
Water Drop When the dampener system applies too much water to the paper causing a streak in the paper.
Water Fugitive Ink When water fugitive ink comes in contact with water or any aqueous type of solution, it will run and stain the document.
Water In Ink A problem in a press run when too much water breaks the ink down.
Water-Color Paper A paper that has special sizing so that it is suitable for watercolor painting.
Waterleaf Papers that do not have sizing.
Waterless Plate A printing plate with silicone rubber coating in non-image areas, that is used on an offset press without dampening solution.
Waterless Printing Printing on a press in offset, utilizing special waterless plates and no dampening system.
Watermark A design which is imprinted in the paper while on the wet end of the papermaking machine.
Watermark - Artificial Artificial watermarks are applied after the paper has been manufactured. They simulate a true watermark but are only visible on the side that the watermark is applied. They can be applied by the paper manufacturer or by the forms manufacturer.
Watermark - True A translucent image created in the paper on the paper machine, with the use of a dandy roller. The image is generally the name of the paper or a company logo and can be viewed from both sides of the paper. Also referred to as a genuine watermark.
Waterproof Paper Paper with a special coating which makes it waterproof.
Wavy Edges A problem that occurs in paper that has picked up too much moisture.
Wax Pick A method of testing the surface strength of paper.
Waxer A machine that puts melted wax on the back of photocomposition so that it can be pasted onto a mechanical.
Web A large roll of paper that is used in a web press as opposed to cut sheets used in sheetfed machines.
Web Break Detector A unit that detects a break in the web that will shut the press down.
Web Offset Offset paper in roll form.
Web Paper Roll paper used for printing on a web press.
Web Press A printing press that prints on a large, continuous roll of paper as opposed to printing on sheets.
Web Tension The tension on the web as it passes through the press.
Weight 1. The thickness of the strokes of the characters in a particular font. The font could be described as light, normal, or bold. 2. The weight or thickness of paper stock as determined by the weight in lbs. of a ream (500 sheets) of the paper of a specified size.
Weight Tolerance A margin of variation in a paper's shipped weight that is accepted.
Wet End The part of paper machine where the paper is formed.
Wet Rolls A problem of dampness on a web which can cause it to break on the press.
Wet Strength The ability of paper to maintain a percentage of its tensile strength when it has been saturated with water. It possess properties that are resistant to rupturing and disintegrating.
White Balance Light coming through the lens of a digital camera needs to be balanced in order to achieve natural or accurate coloration. Proper white balance is achieved by extracting white light from the light that comes through the lens, adjusting for the ambient lighting.
Whiteness The paper's ability to reflect all colors of light the same.
Wicking The bleeding of ink from the ink jet printing process into unwanted areas of the paper, causing a blurring effect of the printed character or image.
Widow When the last line of a paragraph cannot fit on a page and ends up by itself on the next page.
Width On continuous forms it is the dimension parallel to the cross perfs between forms. On snap out forms it is the dimension parallel to the stub perf.
Window Envelopes An envelope with a die cut opening that is intended to have information show through from the piece inside the envelope.
Wire On a papermaking machine, the area over which the pulp runs during the papermaking operation.
Wire Side In papermaking, it is the side of the paper next to the wire on the paper machine. The under side of the paper.
Wire Stitching Most commonly known as either saddle stitching or side wire stitching.
Wire-o Binding Wire loops run through punched slots along the binding side of a booklet.
With the Grain Parallel to the grain direction of the paper.
Woodcut An illustration , cut in relief on wood, for the purpose of making prints by a relief printing method similar to letterpress.
Word Processor A computerized recording medium to input, edit and output digital text data, utilizing a typewriter type keyboard.
Word Spacing The space in between words.
Work and Tumble A printing method where different pages are assembled so that they are on one plate. One side is printed and the sheet is turned from front to rear so that you are using the opposite edge as the gripper edge and then the second side is printed. The product is then cut apart to make two finished items.
Work and Turn A printing method where different pages are assembled so that they are on one plate. One side is printed and then the sheet is turned over so that you are using the same gripper edge and then the second side is printed. The product is then cut apart to make two finished items.
WORM (Write One Read Many Times) A type of optical memory piece of equipment.
Wove A standard smooth finish.
Wove Paper A smooth finish on paper.
Wrap Around Cover A heavy weight cover used on snap out forms, which starts at the back of the binding stub and wraps all the way around the length of the form and back up to the binding stub perforation in the front. The front part of the cover is used to insert in between forms in the book so that the when writing on a form, the image does not transfer through to the next forms.
Wrap Around Label When a label is wrapped around a container and the tail end of the label overlaps and adheres to the lead edge.
Wraparound Plate A thin one piece relief plate in rotary letterpress, which is draped around the press cylinder like an offset plate.
Wrapper Band A band which is wrapped around paper to hold it together.
Wrinkles The wrinkles that sometimes occur while printing or folding.
Writing paper A paper with a hard surface which makes it good for writing on it with pen or pencil.
WWW (World Wide Web) The extremely interconnected network of hypertext servers, which allow text, graphics, sound and video files to be displayed.
WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) Means that what you see on the computer monitor is commonly the same as what appears on the hard copy.