benday
A method of passing down screen tone percentages on the illustrations, artwork, etc. to be photographed. These screen tints are usually on pressure sensitive plastic sheets with a release backing, and are used to create a tonal or dot pattern, and eliminate the need for an overlay

beta site
A first-user test site for computer software or systems. Users at the beta sites usually contain software for little or no money in exchange for reporting any problems encountered during the beta test period.

Bézier curve
A Bézier curve is a curve defined by two end-points and two control-points, which in general are not on the curve. As well as other characteristics, the control-points define the tangents of the curve as it leaves the two end-points.

Bézier curves are used in PostScript as well as many standard computer drawing packages, The curve formulation was conceived by Pierre Bézier of the Renault car company in the late 1960s for representing 3D car body forms.

BF
Abbreviation for BoldFace

BFT
Abbreviation for Binary File Transfer, scheme used to transmit bitmapped images of documents between fax machines.

bi-directional interface
A connection between two pieces of equipment that allows the transmission or reception of data in either direction.

billboard
Large format outdoor advertising, usually placed in high traffic areas for maximum exposure of their message.

binary
In computer systems, a number code with but two cyphers: “0″ and “1″. Each digit in a binary number represents a power of two. Used in computer systems because the digits can be represented by the presents (1) or the absence (0) of voltage.

bindery
The place where printed jobs undergo their final treatment including trimming, folding, drilling and packaging. This is either a designated part of a printing facility or a separate company.

binding
All the processes that are needed after a job was printed. They include cutting, folding, trimming, gathering (collating), stitching,…

BIOS
Abbreviation for Basic Input and Output System: software that handles communication between components or peripherals in a computer or computer subsystem (eg SCSI-card), often burned into a read-only chip.
big-endian A computer architecture that stores multiple-byte numerical values with the most significant byte (MSB) values first.

BIT
Abbreviation for BInary digiT: the smallest unit of information used in computers. A bit is either a 1 (or ‘on’) or a 0 (meaning ‘off’). Since ‘on’ and ‘off’ are of little significance to us mere humans, computers bundle a series of 8 bits into a byte which can contain actual characters or colour information or other meaningfull stuff.

bit depth
The number of bits used to represent each element in an image. A bit depth of 8 means that 256 colors or gray levels are used for every pixel.

bitmap
A digital image that uses a grid of picture elements (pixels). Every pixel uses a number of bits to determine its color. A 1 bit bitmap only contains black-and-white pixels, a 24 bit bitmap is a picture that can contain up to 16 million different colors.

blanket
Reinforced sheet of rubber used on one of the rollers of an offset press to transfer the to-be-printed data from the plate onto the paper.

black
- The absence of reflected light caused by printing an ink whose colorant gives no apparent hue
- One of the four inks in four color process printing

black box
A conversion that accepts input data and alters it for output

black printer
The plate made during the prepress printing process that is used with the cyan, magenta and yellow printers to enhance the contrast and to emphasize the neutral tones and the details in the final reproduction shadow areas

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