Backbone A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network. Back Up A copy of a document or application located some place other than the location of the original. To back up your hard drive means to copy its contents onto some other drive e.g. CD, removable hard disk (zip, jaz, optical) or DAT tape as a form of ensuring yourself against losing your information. Backing Up Printing the reverse side of a sheet already printed on one side. Bandwidth How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression. See: Bit Bank A lightweight writing paper. Banner A large headline or title extending across the full page width. Baseline The line on which the bases of capital letters sit. BBS (Bulletin Board System) A computerised meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?) of BBSs around the world. Most are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn. BC-(Barcode) A series of vertical bars and half bars that represents the correct product information/price on an item. Each numeric digit is represented by a combination of bars. BCR-(Barcode Reader) A component in certain mail processing equipment that reads and interprets the barcode previously applied to an item. Binary Digit The smallest unit of information a computer can hold. Binding The various methods used to secure loose leaves or sections in a book; eg saddle-stitch, perfect bound. Binhex (BlNary HEXadecimal) A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII. See: ASCII. Bit-(Binary Digit) A single-digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerised data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second. See: Bandwidth, Byte, Kilobyte, and Megabyte. Bitmap Bitmap images are made from a series of small dots or bits. Bitmap images usually have a file name extension of bmp. Bitmapped Character A letter or character made of pixels. See: Pixel. Bitmapped Font A font or typeface composed of bitmapped characters-also called screen fonts. Black Plate Change Changing the black plate on a process printing press, black text and headlines are easily changes without affecting the colour. Blanket In offset printing, a rubber-surfaced fabric clamped around a cylinder. The image is transferred to the blanket from the cylinder, and from there to paper. Bleed, Full Bleed Printed colours, which run all the way to the edge of a sheet, are referred to as bleeds. Some printers charge extra for bleeds since they require the printed image to actually be slightly larger than the final trim size (thereby using more paper - SRA paper sizes). Board Paper of more than 200gsm. Body The main text of the work but not including headlines. Body size The height of the type measured from the top of the tallest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender. Normally given in points, the standard unit of type size. Bold type Type with a heavier darker appearance. Most typefaces have a bold face. Bond Paper A grade of writing or printing paper where strength, durability, and performance are essential requirements; for letterheads, business forms, etc. Book Paper A general term for coated and uncoated papers. Border A continuous decorative design or rule surrounding the matter on the page. Box A section of text marked off by rules or white space and presented separately from the main text and illustrations. Longer boxed sections in magazines are sometimes referred to as sidebars BPM Bound Printed Matter Brightness In paper, the reflectance or brilliance of the paper. On Screen it refers to brilliance of the screen. Bromide A photographic print made on bromide paper. Browser A client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources. See: Client, URL, WWW Bullet (Point) A large dot preceding text to add emphasis. Bundle A group of packages secured together into a single piece or unit under the standards applicable to the rate claimed. See: Package. Burn In platemaking, a term used for plate exposure. To Burn a CD or DVD is to permanently save data to a Compact Disc or Digital Versatile Disc. Button A graphic image of the words “OK,” “Cancel,” “Yes,” “No” or something similar, surrounded by a rounded-corner border, or a graphic image activated by clicking it Byte A unit of digital information usually consisting of eight bits representing one character-a letter, comma, or number. The capacity of storage media, such as floppy and hard disks, is measured in thousands of bytes-or kilobytes-and in millions of bytes-megabytes; even billions of bytes-gigabytes.