J – ‘jacket’ to ‘justify’

This dictionary covers graphic design, prepress and print terminology.
Stan Schwartz supplied most of the terms of this online glossary.

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jacket

The protective paper cover of a hardbound book. It is sometimes called the ‘dust cover’.

jacket copy

The text that appears on the jacket of a book. It typically includes a synopsis which is important for attracting customer interest and prompting a purchase.

jaggies

Also see aliasing. The ragged edge of an image that is produced when a diagonal or circular line is scanned into a system, and either displayed as pixels on a monitor or an output on an imagesetter. Jaggies are caused by a lack of resolution. Sometimes called “stair steps.”

Jaguar

Code name for Mac OS X 10.2

Jaz

A removable disk technology, that was developed by Iomega. There are two versions, capable of storing either one or two gigabyte of information on a disk measuring about 10 by 10 centimeters.

JBOD

Abbreviation for Just a Bunch Of Disks: term used to describe a array of hard disks that do not use RAID technology.

JFIF

Abbreviation for JPEG File Interchange Format, a file format used to store JPEG compressed images. Most people simply refer to it as JPEG. More information is available on this page.

jitter

A temporal phenomenon, it describes an spurious variations in an otherwise regular wavetrain.

JND

Abbreviation for Just-Noticeable Difference.

jobber

A large-volume buyer of hardcover and softcover trade titles for resale to retail bookstores and libraries.

job jacket

An electronic file format created by Quark for use in their layout application QuarkXPress. A job jacket  contains instructions needed to properly handle and print a file. This includes specs such as required fonts, document paper size and imposition.

job number

A number assigned to a printing project used for record keeping and job tracking. Also used to retrieve old jobs for reprints or reworking by customer.

job printing

The printing of such items as letterheads, invoices, invitations, etc.

job tracking

In print production, the act of recording the whereabouts of all components of each job and the production time used for each function.

job

To vibrate a stack of finished pages so that they are tightly aligned for final trimming.

jogger

Vibrating, sloping platform that evens up the edges of stacks of paper.

Joliet

CD-ROM recording format that is commonly used on Windows computers. It is based on the ISO-9660 standard for writing CD-ROMs but allows for longer file names.

JPEG

Abbreviation for Joint Photographic Experts Group, a compression algorithm named after the committee that defined it. More information about the algorithm can be found on this page, while this page discusses the JPEG file format (which is actually called JFIF).

juke box

A device that will store and replay many optical discs or data tapes.

jump line

A line of text that indicates when stories continue on, or from, other pages. Typical examples are ‘Cont. on page 3′ or ‘continued from page 1′.

justification

The typographic process of setting lines of type so both left and right ends are flush to the margins so lines of type appear vertically aligned. Achieved by filling the type line until the last word or syllable fits, rather than by expanding or contracting the word and letter spaces to fill out the line to its specified measure.

justified text

Lines of set type that align on both their left and right hand sides. The alternative to justified text are ragged right, ragged left and centered.

justify

The act of text justification