Walk-off - In lithography, the failure of part of an image to adhere to the metal plate during printing.
Warm color - In printing, a color which is on the reddish side.
Wash up - To clean ink from rollers, fountains, an other components of a press.
Washup - Removing printing ink from a press, washing the rollers and blanket. Certain ink colors require multiple washups to avoid ink and chemical contamination.
Waste - A term for planned spoilage.
Water fountain - Reservoir on a press to hold fountain solution.
Waterless printing - In offset, printing on a press using special waterless plates and no dampening system.
Watermark - A distinctive design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be easily seen by holding the paper up to a light.
Wax engraving - In letterpress platemaking, a method of engraving or impressing lines or type in wax, thereby creating a mold which can be electrotyped. Used for ruled forms.
Web - A roll of paper used in web or rotary printing.
Web break - Break in paper running through a web press, causing production to stop.
Web offset - An offset press in which the paper is fed from a roll and printed on both sides in one continuous web as opposed to sheet-fed presses.
Web Press - A printing press that prints onto a continuous sheet of paper, fed from a large roll (called a web). Web presses print much faster than sheet-fed presses.
Web tension - The amount of pull or tension applied in the direction of travel of a web of paper by the action of a web-fed press.
Web - A roll of printing paper.
Weight - See Basis weight (of paper).
Wet strength - A measure of the physical strength properties of paper when saturated with water expressed in terms of wet tensile strength, wet bursting strength etc.
Wetting agent - Chemical agent used to overcome the reluctance of a liquid to spread over the surface of a dissimilar material by reduction of the surface tension of the liquid.
White space - Designer term referring to non-image area that frames or sets off copy.
Widow - In composition, a single word in a line by itself, ending a paragraph; frowned upon in good typography.
Window - A cut out area in a carton that reveals the contents therein.
Window adhesive - An adhesive used to bond various types of window films to a carton, enabling the interior of the carton to be seen.
Window - Block of masking material on a mechanical that shows position of a photograph or other visual element. Also, an area cut out of masking material.
Wipe-on plate - In offset-lithography, a plate on which a light-sensitive coating is wiped on or applied with a coating machine.
Wire side - That side of a sheet of paper or paperboard which was formed in contact with the wire of the paper machine during the process of manufacture.
Wire-O Binding - A type of spiral binding comprising a double set of wire loops inserted into punched or drilled holes along the binding edge of a set of pages.
Wire-O - Trade name for method of mechanical binding using double loops of wire.
With the grain - Folding or feeding paper into the press or folder parallel to the grain of the paper.
Woodcut - An illustration in lines of varying thickness, cut in relief on plank-grain wood, for the purpose of making prints.
Word processor - A typewriter connected to a computerized recording medium to input, edit and output data.
Work and tumble -To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the sheet over from gripper to back using the same side guide to print the second side.
Work and turn - To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the sheet over from left to right and print the second side. The same gripper and plate is used for printing both sides.
Work order - Form used by printing companies to specify and schedule production of jobs and record the time, materials, and supplies that each job requires to complete.
Working film - Graphic arts negatives still loose or not composited.
Wove finish - Relatively smooth finish on paper achieved by moderate calendering.
Wove paper - Paper having uniform unlined surface and a soft, smooth finish.
Wraparound plate - In rotary letterpress, a thin, one-piece relief plate which is wrapped around the press cylinder like an offset plate. Can be used for direct or indirect (offset) printing.
Wrinkles - Creases in paper occurring during printing. In inks, the uneven surface formed during drying.
Wrong font - In proofreading, the mark "WF" indicates a letter or figure of the wrong size or face.
Wrong reading - Image that is backwards compared to the original.
