Washup:

Removing printing ink from a press, washing the rollers and blanket. Certain ink colours require multiple washups to avoid ink and chemical contamination.

Waste:

A term for planned spoilage.

Waterless Printing:

A process on which fountain solution is not necessary. Non-image areas of the printing plate are treated with silicone so that they reject ink.

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.

Web:

A continuous roll of printing paper used on web-fed presses.

Web-fed:

See Feeding.

Web Offset:

Presses which print offset litho but receive paper from a reel.

Web Press:

A printing press which has a rotary action, and uses large rolls of paper, foil, and/or poly.

Weight:

1. See Grammage.

2. The degree of boldness or thickness of a letter or font.

Wet Proof:

A proof which has been printed from plates on a conventional proofing press. NB There is a difference between wet, or conventional, proof and machine proof.

Wet Strength Paper:

An additive put into the paper at the paper mill which prevents the paper from coming apart when in contact with moisture.

Whiteness (CIE.D65):

Whiteness related to the entire visible spectrum. The CIE whiteness formula gives the best correlation between instrumental and visual assessment of whiteness.

Wide Area Network:

Also known as WAN; a generic term referring to computers that are networked together over a wide geographic area which requires special software and sometimes hardware. They share information over telephone lines and via radio waves. By contrast, the computers on a LAN (local area network) are connected physically, by cables, and are in close proximity with each other.

Width:

Of form from outer edge of sprocket margin to opposite outer edge, usually stated in millimetres.

Wire O:

A bindery trade name for mechanical binding using double loops of wire through a hole.

Wire-O Binding:

A method of wire binding books along the binding edge that will allow the book to lay flat using double loops. See Wire O.

Wire Side:

The side that is in contact with the wire on the paper machine, as distinguished from the felt or top side.

Wire Stitching:

See Saddle Stitching.

With The Grain:

Folding or feeding paper into the press or folder parallel to the grain of the paper.

Woodfree:

Description used of pulp and paper meaning that they contain little or no mechanically ground fibres. Implies that fibres are chemically treated, thereby eliminating lignin and making the product purer, whiter and stronger. Woodfree is an historical paper-making term shortened from "groundwood-free". However, when used in connection with finished paper products now widely available from office super stores etc, it understandably causes confusion amongst end consumers who wrongly assume it to mean the product thus described is literally woodfree, ie. it does not involve trees.

Work and Tumble:

Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from the gripper to the tail to print the second side using the same side guide and plate for the second side.

Work and Turn:

Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from left to right using the same side guides and plate for the second side.

Wove:

Most common plain surface paper used today. The opposite of Laid, it refers to the wire pattern created by a "wove" dandy roll without chain lines. Paper which has a uniform unlined surface and a soft smooth finish.

Wrong Reading:

See Right Reading / Wrong Reading.

WVTR: Water Vapour Transmission Rate:

Is the rate which moisture vapour can permeate through the structure and into a dry atmosphere on the other side. It is recorded in units of gm/100 inches square / 24 hour (g/m2/24 hr). WVTR is dependant on the gauge of the structure, the materials used in the structure, and the quality of the materials used. Vapour can pass through channels in the seals, holes, tears, or imperfections in the package.

WWW:

Acronym for World Wide Web. A global network of computers which hold information that can be accessed from computers linked to the internet via telephone lines.