Digital Media Vocabulary

Alignment

The positioning of objects in an illustration.

Alternate Layout

A feature used to create layouts in various orientations and screen sizes within the same document to prepare for multiscreen use.

Anchor Point

A point on a specific path that indicates a change of direction.

Animation Panel

A panel used to control the animation settings applied to individual objects.

Background

Elements that are placed behind the foreground of a document.

Balance

A design principle that often refers to the visual weight being shown.

Bitmap

The way a computer builds up an image on a screen using building blocks of dots, or pixels.

Bleed

A part of an image that runs off the edge of the printing area of a document before the document is trimmed to size.

Button

A symbol that has actions applied to it in order to become interactive.

Buttons and Forms Panel

A panel that is used to apply actions to buttons and forms used in interactive files.

Caption

Descriptive text that is usually positioned below an image.

CMYK

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black (CMYK) is a color model where cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are mixed together to create and reproduce different colors in the color printing medium.

Column Guides

Guides that can be placed on an InDesign page or Parent Page to define space within the page.

Content Collector Tool

An InDesign tool that allows designers to take multiple objects and content to be used in different ways throughout a document.

Contrast

A term used to define contrast in art using color, design, or other subject matter that contrast or are opposite of each other.

Copyright

An original work whose creator has the sole license to create, copy, or distribute it.

Creative Commons- BY

A Creative Commons license allows others to use the artist's work, provided they credit the artist for the original work.

Creative Commons- NoDerivs

A Creative Commons license that allows others to use the artist's work, unaltered, for commercial and non-commercial uses, provided that the artist is credited.

Creative Commons- Non-Commercial

A Creative Commons license allows others to use the artist's work non-commercially and build upon the artist's work, provided that the artist is credited.

Creative Commons- ShareAlike

A Creative Commons license is similar to the Attribution CC but includes the provision that any work created from the artist's original work must have the same license.

Crop Marks

Marks that are part of an object as an effect.

Character Styles

An InDesign panel that saves character style effects changes for consistency throughout a document.

Depth of Field

The distance between the nearest and furthest objects in a document.

Derivative Work

A work based on one or more works that already exist.

Document Size

The height and width of a page in InDesign.

Drop Shadow

An InDesign effect option that adds depth to an object by creating a shadow behind the object.

ePub

The file format native to iPads; is the initial format used by InDesign to create a file intended for any mobile device and can be converted later to a more appropriate format, such as MOBI.

Export

The act of sending or transferring a saved file to another application.

Fair Use

A part of the US Copyright Law that indicates excerpts of copyrighted materials may be used under certain circumstances such as news reports, teaching, and research.

Feathers

A tool used to create a uniform, subtle gradient around the edges of an object.

Fill

The inside color of a shape.

Find/Change

A tool in InDesign that can be utilized to find and make changes to text, objects, or other elements.

Footer

An area at the bottom of a document, separate from the main body, which can contain text and images that are displayed on all corresponding documents.

Foreground

Elements that are placed in the focus of a document.

Frame

A box that is used to hold the content of a document.

Gamut

The range of colors that can be displayed or printed on a device.

GIF

Graphic interchange format (GIF) is a common image file format that can have frames used in animation.

Gradient

A design technique used to gradually transition from one color to another.

Gradient Panel

The panel in InDesign that is used for gradient management.

Graphic

A broad term used to explain objects placed in InDesign such as images.

Guides

Nonprinting lines are used to create guidelines in a drawing.

Gutter

Spacing between two columns of text.

Harmony

Creating appealing color combinations.

Header

An area at the top of a document, separate from the main body, that can contain text and images that are displayed on all corresponding documents.

Hue

A color principle that refers to pure color.

Hyperlink

An element on a page that links to another page, webpage, or area on the same page.

Image File Format

A standardized method of organizing and storing digital images.

Image Resolution

The detail that a digital, film, or other type of image holds.

Image Size

The product of the height and width of a digital image using pixels.

Import

The act of opening and editing data created in other applications.

Inline Graphic

A graphic that is permanently placed at the position of the cursor.

Inset Spacing

An option within the Text Frame Options allows designers to inset the spacing of an object.

Intellectual Property

A work or invention which is the result of creativity. The creator has rights to the work or the invention by applying a patent, copyright, or trademark.

Kerning

Altering the distance between two characters. Kerning can make text more readable by increasing or decreasing the spacing.

Leading

The vertical space between lines of type.

Library

A productivity feature designed to store objects for use in other InDesign documents, maintaining scalable attributes and placement on the page.

Licensing

Obtaining written permission from a work's copyright holder will dictate what an artist can and cannot do with the copyrighted work.

Line

A basic component in art and geometry that is used to define shape.

Liquid Layout Panel

A panel that controls rules for page layout conversion.

Liquid Page Rule

A rule that is set in the Liquid Layout panel to control the way certain elements convert from one layout to another, such as vertical to horizontal.

Live Preflight

A productivity feature that alerts the user of potential production errors in real-time, automatically identifying text and image errors as previously defined in the document profile.

MOBI

The file format used by Kindles.

Multiscreen Project

A file intended for various screen sizes, such as a mobile device or an app for an iPad.

Multistate Object

Multiple versions of an object are created but only one is viewed on the screen at a time. Multistate objects are viewable in SWF format and are often used to create slideshows.

Negative Space

The space surrounding an object.

Object

An element within InDesign that can be manipulated to create aesthetics or add purpose to a page.

Object States Panel

A panel used to create multistate objects.

Opacity

A color setting that affects the level of transparency an object has.

Package

An InDesign feature that places all of the fonts and linked graphics into a single folder.

Page Setup

An InDesign feature that allows designers a quick and easy way to format pages.

Paragraph Styles

An InDesign panel that saves paragraph style effects changes for consistency throughout a document.

Parent Page

A design tool that contains elements that are repeated through multiple pages or projects.

Path

A line that is created using one of the drawing or shape tools.

PDF

Portable Document File(PDF) is a file format designed by Adobe to enable the printing and viewing of documents.

Pen Tool

An InDesign tool used to place anchor points in a drawing.

Pixel

A single dot in a digital image that is assigned a specific location and color value.

PNG

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is an image file format that is absolutely lossless.

Preview Spread

A feature on the Animation panel that allows the user to preview the animation.

Properties Panel

An InDesign panel that shows the properties of the entire document or a selected object.

Proximity

A design principle that defines the spatial relationship between objects.

Public Domain

Content or material that is free for use. Not subject to copyrights.

Raster

An image that is made up of an array of bits within a rectangular grid of pixels.

Repetition

A design principle that defines the use of an object over and over in a repetitive fashion.

Resolution

The amount of detail an image holds. Also refers to how many pixels are contained on the screen.

RGB

Red Green Blue (RGB) is a color model in which red, green, and blue are mixed together in various ways.

Rotate Tool

A reshaping tool which rotates an object around a fixed point.

Rule of Thirds

A composition type that is defined as dividing an image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically.

Ruler Guide

An InDesign tool used to set tabs and other guides.

Scale Tool

A reshaping tool that resizes an object around a fixed point.

Scope Creep

In project management, a subtle process in which changes or uncontrolled growth of a project's scope occur.

Shape

A basic principle in art. Triangles and squares are examples of shapes.

Shear Tool

A reshaping tool that skews an object around a fixed point.

Skin

A style of video controls that displays as a transparent overlay.

Slug

Information on a document that is not printed.

Text Reflow

A feature that allows a story to automatically create new pages to keep the story flowing.

Special Characters

Characters which are found in the Glyphs menu.

Spread

A set of pages viewed together.

Stock Images

Photos, illustrations, or icons that have already been created and are available for use by others.

Story Editor

An InDesign tool which allows designers to open up the text of a story in a separate frame.

Story Jumps

An option within InDesign that gives the designer the ability to create an interactive PDF file.