alignment - the placement of type relative to margins; left means lines share a left border, but are uneven on the right side; justified or fully justified means both left and right sides are aligned.
ascender - part of a lower case letter that rises above the x-height.
baseline - an imaginary line upon which rests the body of a line of type. Descenders, such as lower-case p or g, drop below the baseline.
bold or boldface - an expression of weight, also a style of type.
bullet - a type of character, the most common being a large dot, that is used to separate text or to begin paragaphs, especially in lists. Can be created on the Mac with the key combination Option-8; on the PC with Control-Shift-8.
column - a vertical block of type, or the space used to lay out type and graphics. Pages may have as few as one column, or many.
column guides - non-printing lines that define the left and right margins of columns on a page; accessible through the Layout menu.
crop, cropping - any technique that reduces the amount of a graphic that shows or prints. In PageMaker, the cropping tool can be used to crop horizontally or vertically.
crop marks - printed but non-reproducing marks that aid the printer in determining trim size.
descender - part of a lower case letter that drops below the baseline
EPS - a file format that stands for Encapsulated PostScript; used for high-resolution output and special effects.
fill - the property of an object that determines the appearance of the body of the object; fill may be solid; a tint or screen; a pattern; or none.
folio - printer's term for page number
font - often used interchangeably with "face" or "type face," is now actually the name of type, such as Helvetica or Times Bold. Traditionally, a single size, weight and style of type.
grid - non-printing guides, including column guides and ruler guides, that aid in structuring page layouts.
gutter - The space between pages in facing pages layouts.
halftone - in printing, the technique of simulating shades of gray or color by varying the size of dots in a grid, or the number of pixels in a given area.
hanging indent - a paragraph format where the lines are indented a certain distance from the left margin, but the first line is indented a negative amount, so that the first line hangs over the rest of the left alignment.
horizontal - side to side, left to right, as in "the sun sets below the horizon."
in-line graphic - a graphic element embedded in a paragraph as a text character. It takes on alignment and other characteristics of the host paragraph.
indents - Additional space measured from the left and right of a text block or margin. Indents can be Left, in which all lines in the paragraph are the specified distance from the left margin; Right, in which all lines in the paragraph are the specified distance from the right margin; and First, in which the first line of the paragraph is an additional amount from the left margin. Note that First can be a negative number up to the positive value of the left indent to form a hanging indent
italic - general term used to describe slanted type, although strictly italic letterforms vary from the non-italic original.
kerning - the adjustment of spacing between letter pairs
leader - A character, most commonly used with tabs, to visually connect the text on either side of the tab; most common character is the period, followed by the underscore. Do not confuse with leading.
leading - the distance from the baseline of one line of text to the baseline of the next, usually measured in points.
line - the property of an object that determines the appearance of the perimeter of the object. Lines may be solid; a tint or screen; patterns; or none. Line weight is measured in points.
line length - a function of the width of the text block, minus any indents. For body copy, line length should be, in picas, 1 to 2.5 times the size of type, in points.
margin - defined area surrounding a page that separates the trim from the live (printing) area.
mask - a technique for using the shape of one graphic object to crop or otherwise block out portions of another graphic object.
master page - a page identified by an L or R in the lower left corner of a document window, on which you create elements that will appear consistently throughout the publication.
paragraph style - see Style sheet
pica - a typographic measurement system consisting of 12 points; there are 6 picas per inch.
points - the basic measure of type; there are 72 points to the inch, or 12 points to the pica
point size - a measure of the size of type, in points.
rule - printer's term for a line.
ruler guide - a non-printing line that you drag from either the vertical or horizontal rulers to help you position elements on a page.
running head - a line of text, often containing the title, that is consistent across most or all the pages in a publication.
running foot - a line of text, often containing the folio, that is consistent across most or all the pages in a publication.
sans serif - the class of type faces without serifs; Helvetica is an example.
serif - a line or curved extension projecting from the end of a letter form; can be used to distinguish a class of type faces, such as Times, from sans serif faces, such as Helvetica.
set width - a typographic name for the horizontal scaling of type, usually expressed as a percentage. "Squeeze" or "stretch" might be other words for set width.
soft returns - in PageMaker, holding the Shift key while pressing Return creates a soft return, sometimes called a line break or new line, but does not start a new paragraph. Most often used in conjunction with bullet lists.
style - a variant of the basic type face, such as Italic, Bold, Strikethrough or Outline. Not to be confused with Style Sheets.
style sheet - essentially a script or shortcut for several text and paragraph formatting choices, such as, but not limited to, indents, rules, typeface, size and styles. Style sheets apply to paragraphs at a time, rather than individual words, and are also sometimes called paragraph styles.
tab - a non-printing character that affects alignment of text that follows it; may be left, right, center, decimal. See also, leader.
text block - In PageMaker, an object that contains text, defined by handles at top, bottom, left and right. Text blocks can be linked, and a single story may have many text blocks. To view a text block, click on text with the Pointer Tool.
text wrap - the technique of flowing text around graphic elements. In PageMaker, the options are available under the Element menu.
tracking - preset letter spacing values
trim size - size of the finished page after the excess has been cut away.
typeface or face - can refer to an entire related named family of type, such as Helvetica or Times.
vertical - up and down, top to bottom.
weight - term referring to the "heaviness" of a type face's stroke. Terms often used are light, medium, book, bold, heavy, ultra.
x-height - a value often expressed as a percentage that measures the height of the body of lowercase letters in a type face, or in proportion to the upper case letters.
zero point - the point at which the on-screen vertical and horizontal rulers meet at 0; the position relative to the page is changeable by the user.
zoom - the act of enlarging or reducing the magnification on screen; like moving closer or farther away; refer to the View menu option.
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