1. Desktop Publishing Terminology

2. Basic Layout Terms

3. Alignment Alignment of text and or graphics on a document.
Illustrating the Principles of Design
ciples/l/aa_pod2.htm

4. Asymmetrical Design
Contemporary design in which contrasing elements of unequal weight and proportion are positioned on a page to achieve balance.
ciples/g/asymmetrical.htm

5. Balance
Attain balance by equally distributing the weight of various elements, such as blocks of text, graphics, images, headings, ruled lines, white space on a page. Balance is usually symmetrical or asymmetrical. Look up the following site:
Illustrating the Principles of Design
ciples/l/aa_pod2.htm

6. Consistency
Uniformity among specific design elements establishes a pattern of consistency in your document. Inconsistency can confuse and frustrate the reader and can lead to a reduction in readership.
onsistency.htm

7. Contrast
The difference between varying degrees of lightness and darkness on the page.
Illustrating the Principles of Design
ciples/l/aa_pod2.htm

8. Directional Flow
Positioning elements to draw the reader’s eyes through the document.
d htm

9. Focus
An elements used to attract the reader’s eyes.

10. Legibility
The ease with which individual characters are recognized.

11. Proportion
Sizing elements in relation to their relative importance and to each other.
ciples/l/aa_pod2.htm

12. Symmetrical Design
Balancing similar elements equally on a page(centered alignment).

13. White Space Background space with no text or graphics.
Illustrating the Principles of Design
ciples/l/aa_pod2.htm

14. Z-Pattern
When scanning a paper the eyes have a tendency to move in a Z pattern.

15. Typography Terms

16. Ascenders Ascender: Parts of fonts that extend above the x-height.
pmentwords/a/AscendersDef.htm

17. Baseline
Imaginary horizontal line on which characters rest.

18. Cap Height
Distance between the baseline and top of the capital letters.
phyfonts/tp/letter_anatomy.htm

19. Descenders Parts of fonts that extend below the baseline.
my/g/descender.htm

20. Kerning
Decreasing or increasing the horizontal space between specific character pairs. On the font dialog box under Character Spacing in Word.
erningtracking.htm
rning.htm

21. Pitch
The number of characters that can be printed in one horizontal inch.

22. Point Size
Point Size: l/72 of an inch. 72 points are equal to one inch

23. Sans Serif Without small strokes at the end of characters.
Examples of Sans Serif Fonts:
Arial
Tahoma
Antique Olive

24. Serif Fonts A small stroke at the end of a character.
Examples of Serif Fonts
Times New Roman
Garamond

25. Typeface Font Styles
A set of characters with a common design and shape.
Such as
Impact, Times New Roman, Arial

26. Typestyle 4 categories of styles Normal (regular, roman) Bold Italic

27. X-Height
Height of the font’s lowercase x.

28. Drop Cap
Decorative first letter of paragraph or sentence used to draw the reader’s eye.
22id htm

29. Tracking
Which refers to the horizontal spacing between letters or characters.
g/a/kerningtracking.htm

30. Leading
Refers to the amount of added vertical spacing between lines of type. In consumer-oriented word processing software, this concept is usually referred to as "line spacing".
/leading.htm

31. Weight
The thickness or heaviness of the strokes of a font style. Font weights generally range from 'light', on to 'medium' and then through to 'heavy'. With the advent of digital fonts technology, there are now more choices of font weights than ever.