D
driver
Software that aids the transfer of information between the computer and the peripheral controlled by the software program. In publishing, the most common are the printer drivers.
drop cap
The large capital letter on the first letter of the first word of a paragraph that is aligned at the top with the rest of the type and is typeset at a size, at least, double the paragraph type size. A drop cap is set to drop down through two or more lines of text such that the remaining type must be set around it. Typesetting software and page makeup software sometimes offer automatic drop cap features.
dropout halftones
A half-tone with no dots in the highlight area.
drum imagesetter
A high resolution laser output device that utilizes either an internal or a revolving drum.
My own favourite, the Agfa SelectSet 7000 drum imagesetter
drum scanner
An optical scanning device for converting an optical image to an electrical image by analyzing the original copy mounted on a revolving drum or cylinder. As the drum revolves a spot of light illuminates the surface while a photodirector or CCD looks at each pixel spot as it passes by. After each row of pixels is analyzed, digitized and stored, the optics move sideways one row then repeat the process until the entire picture rasted is stored.
DRUPA
Abbreviation for Druck und Papier: big German tradeshow for the graphic arts.
dry dot etching
A technique that is used to change halftone dot sizes in all or specific areas of color separations by overexposing positive or negative contact films that were made from the halftone separation films. Dots already on a film are reduced or enlarged as needed.
DSC
Abbreviation for Document Structuring Conventions: Adobes rules on how PostScript files should be structured
DTP
Abbreviation for DeskTop Publishing: the process of creating documents using a personal computer, standard off-the-shelf software and a output device like a laser printer. The term was coined by Paul Brainerd, the creator of PageMaker. Also see the history of PostScript.
dummy
- An approximate sample of a final printed piece prepared with a designer’s tools
- A press signature folded for proper page positioning during the imposition step.
- A layout drawing showing position of art, photo’s and text.
duotone
An image that contains shades of two different colours. In most cases, these two colours are black and a spot colour such as a Pantone colour. Sometimes duotones are printed using two black inks to increase the detail and saturation of the image. Applications like Photoshop create a duotone by applying two different tone curves to a grayscale image.
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