WAN (Wide Area Network) Any Internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus. A collection of disparate, widely located, and geographically isolated networks, connected by private or public communication lines.

Warm color A color with a yellowish or reddish cast.

Washup The process of cleaning the rollers, form or plate, and sometimes the ink fountain of a printing press.

Waste A term for planned spoilage, such as the paper trimmed from a sheet to create bleed.

Waterless plate A printing plate with silicone rubber coating in non-image areas, that is printed on an offset press without dampening solution.

Waterless printing In offset, printing on a press using special waterless plates and no dampening system.

Watermark A distinctive logo or design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be seen by holding the paper up to light.

Web A roll of paper used in web or rotary printing.

Web press A press that prints on a roll of paper, either roll-to-roll, or with inline folding and cutting to form signatures.

Web printing It has nothing to do with the worldwide web. Web printing refers to work produced on large presses that use rolls (webs) of paper, as opposed to paper that's cut into sheets. Web printing is suitable for very large quantities and/or very long runs. So when you overhear "Is this running sheet or web?" you'll know what it means.

Web tension The amount of pull or tension applied in the direction of travel of a web of paper by the action of a web press.

Widow A single word or part of a word on a line by itself, ending a paragraph, or starting a page, frowned upon in good typography. Sometimes called an orphan.

Wire-o binding A continuous double series of wire loops run through punched slots along the binding side of a booklet.

Wire side The side of a sheet next to the wire in manufacturing; opposite from felt or top side.

With the grain Folding or feeding paper into a press with the grain of the paper parallel to the blade of the folder or the axis of the impression cylinder.

Word processor At one time, a typewriter connected to a computerized recording medium to input, edit, and output digital text data. Today, it is a program that runs in a PC for electronically editing text.

Work-and-Back Up This is a regional term used in central Pennsylvania. I first saw it on a job jacket when I joined Lebanon Valley Offset in 1981. The job jacket had the notation WBU on front of the layout. I came from Philadelphia, where they used the notation "SW" for sheetwise. Out in central PA, SW meant Spoiled Work. Not a term they cared to see on their jobs. They also did not W&T sheets. They tumbled the plates because sheets are not always square. That way they could keep the same gripper edge.

Work-and-Tumble To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn it over from gripper to back using the same side guide and plate to print the second side.

Work-and-Turn To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn it over from left to right and print the second side using the same gripper and plate but opposite side guide.

Wove paper Paper having a uniform unlined surface and a soft smooth finish.

Wrinkles Creases in paper occurring during printing. In inks, the uneven surface formed during drying.

WWW (World Wide Web) The highly inter-connected network of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) that allow text, graphics, sound, and video files to be linked and displayed.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Means that what you see on the computer monitor is generally the same as what appears on the hard copy. Pronounced "wizzywig." But you know that the color may not match.