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| B2B |
| A business operation in e-commerce by which businesses can offer and market their products and services.
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| B2C |
| An e-commerce business process by means of which consumers can buy goods and services over the Internet. |
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| Backbone |
| The part of a network that handles the most traffic, providing particularly high-capacity and high-speed connections. |
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| Backup (backup copy) |
| A duplicate file made to protect against the unexpected loss of data. |
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| Banding |
| Unaesthetic jagged lines that occur when printing color breaks in gradations; caused by tonal jumps when adjacent dots become interconnected, leading to a perceptible increase in tone value. (See also “tonal jump”.) |
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| Bandwidth |
| Refers to the amount of data that can pass through a transmission channel while transmitting data from one computer to another in a given period of time. The standard measurement for bandwidth is "bits per second" (bps), it is also known as the maximum data trasfer rate. |
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| Banner |
| A rectangular window on a web page with text and graphics used for promotional purposes. A distinguishing feature of banners is that they invite users to interact. By clicking the mouse, the user is usually taken to the web site of the advertiser, where more detailed information is available. Banners have been in widespread use since the mid-1990s. In recent times, they have often been animated to attract the attention of the user. |
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| Barcode |
| Used to display characters in such a way that they can easily be read by a machine. The code consists of a system of narrow and wide, dark and light strips. One of the most common applications for barcode markings is the EAN code for identifying all types of merchandise. The EAN code also defines the barcode’s representation of the individual figures. |
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| Baseline grid |
| A grid used to ensure that the lines on both sides of a page are aligned, for example with thinner paper grades where the text tends to be visible on the opposite side of the page, in order to increase legibility. The term refers to the division of a sheet in sections using horizontal lines. Freely definable horizontal lines with fixed intervals are generated starting from a given point, marked paragraphs can then be assigned to the baseline grid and the leading adjusted to it. Higher quality DTP typesetting programs allow a baseline grid to be specified under the page characteristics. |
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| Basle II |
| Regulation initiated by the Basle-based Bank for International Settlement that began receiving worldwide acceptance in 2005. It ties banks to a credit risk: the more uncertain a transaction, the more capital the bank must advance, which results in higher interest for enterprises. |
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| Beta test |
| A test under real conditions which usually represents the last stage of testing before the commercial release or market launch of a software program. |
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| Bézier curves |
| A curve with a particular shape defined by two end points and whose tangent points (also called handles or nodes) have special characteristics. Any curve can be presented as a Bézier curve by dividing it into segments. |
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| Bindexpert |
| Product of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG used for finishing print products. The device functions as an adhesive binder and features two exchangeable glue pans for dispersion adhesive or hot-melt glue. Formats from A6+ to A3+ and all sizes in between can be processed. The Bindexpert is designed to process a maximum binding length of 43 centimeters with a book thickness of 4 centimeters. The unit also features a spine-processing station that can be used to notch or rout the spine of a book. The Bindexpert has been designed to process many different types of paper, including coated, uncoated and laminated stock. |
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| Bit (binary digit) |
| The smallest possible unit of information. A bit can only have two states (1/0, yes/no, on/off etc.) and serves as the basis for the binary system used in all computers. The bit is thus the basic unit for information technology and communication.
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| Bit depth |
| The bit rate and brightness resolution per pixel of a scanner; determines the contrast range of a digital image. |
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| Bit rate |
| The number of bits transmitted in a specified interval (typically one second) over an interface or bus/line; the speed of transfer and throughput. |
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| Bitmap |
| The simplest format for graphics, where the pixels within a two-dimensional coordinate system are described by an x,y value (position of the pixel) and a color value. |
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| Bitmapped graphic |
| See "pixel graphic". |
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| Black generation (black ink limit) |
| A term used to describe how the color black is used in a set for four-color printing. In theory, black is not required in the CMYK color system for representing various hues of an image. In practice, however, it is used whenever contrast and detail are to be enhanced in dark areas. The term short black or skeleton black is applied if the color is only used for this purpose, in which case only a small amount of black is required. |
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| Blanket cylinder |
| The blanket clamped around a cylinder; the core element of offset printing. It transfers the printed image from the printing form to the paper. The process of depositing the ink onto the blanket also gave rise to the term "offset printing". Blankets enable consistent printing over large areas and are ideal for rough or grained papers. The blanket on the cylinder is usually 1.65 or 1.95 millimeters thick and consists of two, three or four fabric interleaves in addition to the actual covering layer. A distinction is usually made between the conventional blankets, which can be deformed but not compressed, and the compressible, air-cushioned blankets. Standard DIN 16621 describes the requirements for "blankets for indirect lithographic printing (offset printing)". |
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| Blind embossing |
| A paper processing stage in the print process where male and female dies are used to generate an impression in the paper under high pressure. Embossing with raised motifs is known as high embossing and embossing with sunken motifs as deep embossing. There are also multi-stage embossing procedures where the motif has different levels, and relief embossing, which creates a spatial effect with three-dimensional profiles. High embossing can also be simulated by applying and melting special powder materials.
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| Blueprint |
| The term used for monochrome prints of finished printing copy, derived from the light blue color of these prints. Today, even corresponding, simple black-and-white prints are generally referred to as blueprints. They serve as proofs for checking the completeness, position and content of the individual graphic elements (texts, images, etc.). |
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| Blur |
| Generic term for image manipulations that reduce the sharpness of an image or reduce the definition of an image's outlines. Image processing programs offer a wide selection of blur filters, the best-known of which is the Gaussian blur. |
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| Board |
| Flat substrate made of mostly uniform fiber layers of over 225 grams per square meter. |
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| Bogus paper |
| A simple type of paper made exclusively from unsorted waste paper, usually has a gray, or sometimes brownish tint, and a weight of 80 g/m 2 or more; primarily used as a starting material for corrugated board. |
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| Book face (bread-and-butter face) |
| The font used for the standard mass composition of a print product.
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| Books on demand |
| Books produced and shipped on the basis of orders. This method, made possible by digital printing, can cut the cost of fairly small run lengths, as the expense of storage and producing excess copies is eliminated. In addition, it is also possible to compile customized books from pre-defined sections of an existing work
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| Book paper |
| A bulkier paper used for bound books, made both with and without woodpulp. |
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| Book printing |
| A general term used for the printing of books and brochures that consist mainly of text and few pictures.
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| Bookmarks |
| A list of URLs that a browser records for a specific user. |
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| Brace |
| In typography, curly brackets "{ }" are known as a brace. |
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| Bread-and-butter type |
| The type or face used for the running text of a printed product. The term is said to originate from the days of lead composition when compositors were paid by piecework and earned the majority of their pay with texts in this type.
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| Bristol board |
| Paperboard comprising three or more layers, where the outermost layers are wood-free, while the inner material may contain wood. Bristol board is not coated and is therefore a natural paperboard; it is durable and produces good results in offset printing and finishing. Typical fields of application include postcards, envelopes and packaging materials.
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| Brochure |
| A printed product consisting of a cover stuck or stitched directly to the spine of a single-layer or multi-layer block. The cover generally has the same format as the book block and is made either of material similar to the interior of the brochure or of card. The brochure was originally a temporary form of binding used until the purchaser of a book had opted for a high-quality book cover, which was often very expensive. Nowadays, this binding technique is used as a low-cost mechanical production method.
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| Broken type (block type) |
| A main category in the classification of type fonts; a group of type fonts defined in DIN 16518; a generic term for a range of Latin type fonts in which all curved elements of lower case letters have totally or partly broken or disjointed strokes and joints. Broken types were created during the German Renaissance. |
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| Browser |
| A program used to view, download, upload, surf, or otherwise access documents on the Internet.
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| Bulky paper |
| A soft, elastic, extremely thick stock. Also known as thick printing paper. |
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| Byte |
| The byte is the smallest addressable unit of memory in a computer. A byte consists of eight bits and can thus assume either 28 or 256 different values, which means the character sets of most languages can be encoded in a single byte. The encoding of character sets using two bytes per character (Unicode) is now also playing an increasingly significant role. When combined, two bytes can assume a total of 65,536 (216) different values, enough for all the characters in all of the world's major languages. The capacity of storage media is expressed in multiples of 210 or 1024 bytes: 1 Kbyte = 1024 byte, 1 Mbyte = 1024 Kbyte, 1 Gbyte = 1024 Mbyte etc. |
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| Bytemap |
| Refers to the color shades or gray steps created by screening |
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