Glossary

Adjustment—an effect which can be applied to your design as a new layer for creative or corrective purposes.
Alignment—positioning text to the left, right, centre, top or bottom.
Anchor—a link that allows you to jump to a specific point in your publication.
Asset—a stored design element which can be accessed from any document you have open.
Baseline—determines the position of the bottom of text characters.
Baseline grid—a grid which is overlaid over your page to help you align text.
Bleed—the area of the page that goes beyond the page edge to be trimmed off in the event of paper movement or design inconsistencies.
Blend mode—a mode applied to your layer which changes how the applied pixels interact with existing pixels on the layer below.
Blend range—the specified range of colours on a current layer which are blended with the underlying layer(s).
Body text—the main text on a page, not including headlines.
Colour picker—a tool used to select and sample colours.
Colour space—the range of colour used to display and print your file.
Column guide—a non-printing guide that marks the boundary of each column on a page.
Clipboard—a system used for short-term storage and transfer of content during cut, copy and paste operations.
Clipping—the act of positioning one object inside another.
CMYK—a colour model that is often used for printing.
Document preset—a blank file containing a group of recommended document setup options according to how you plan to work.
Document template—a file containing reusable pre-formatted text styles, graphics, and layouts which you can use to form the basis of another document.
Embedded file—a placed copy of an original file that is embedded into a document. If the original file is moved or updated, the embedded copy will remain unchanged.
Global colour—a colour that can be created, applied, and updated for different objects across your design from a single place.
Glyph—a specific shape of a letter presented in a particular typeface.
Gradient—a gradual blend from one colour to another.
Grid—a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines which is overlaid over your page to help you align objects.
Guide—non-printing, non-exporting lines that float over page objects and assist with their positioning.
Gutter—a blank space that runs between text columns.
Hyperlink—a link that allows you to jump to specific pages, files or web addresses (URLs).
Hyphenation—parameters determining how a line of text will be hyphenated.
Index—a list of keywords (or topics) used in a publication which contain referenced page numbers.
Justification—parameters determining how spaces between words and characters should be adjusted.
Kerning—controlling the space between two characters which, due to each character's geometry, might otherwise leave an unappealing gap.
Leading—space added between lines of text.
Ligatures—presents two adjacent characters in a more creative way.
Linked file—a placed file containing a link between the document and the file on disk to allow it to update (via Resource Manager) if it is changed on disk.
Margin—the area between the main content of the page and the page edges (or spread and spread edges).
Master page—a page that can be used to automatically apply formatting to other pages in your document.
Orphan—a stray opening line of a paragraph that appears by itself at the end of a page/text column, separated from the rest of the paragraph.
Overprinting—printing one ink colour on top of another instead of the underlying colour being removed.
Overset—text overflows its text frame leaving it hidden.
Palette—a selection of colours.
Pasteboard—the area around the document.
Persona—allows in-app access to other Affinity products' features using Affinity's proprietary Studiolink technology.
Picture frame—a decorative frame which content (such as images and documents) can be inserted into.
Placeholder text—a section of text that can temporarily be inserted into a frame to test the formatting and layout before the final copy is ready.
Preflight check—a final check of page layout, fonts, graphics and colours before exporting or printing.
RGB—a colour model that is often used for digital work.
Ruler—guideline used to accurately place objects or guides in the Document View.
Ruler guide—a non-printing guide that can be aligned to any point on the ruler.
Spot colour—a colour that can be used when your artwork contains a very limited colour set, reducing print costs significantly and allowing you to accurately reproduce colours otherwise impossible with process colours.
Spread—left and right page pairings displayed at the same time (when Facing pages is checked).
Swashes—a more ornate alternative for a glyph, often appearing more exaggerated and calligraphic in nature.
Table of contents—a list of chapter or section headings, usually found at the start of a document and normally annotated with page numbers.
Text frame—a frame containing paragraph text which uses a formalised structure and layout.
Text style—a set of text attributes and properties which can be applied to text.
Tracking—the letter spacing between any two characters in your text. This can be increased or decreased equally.
White space—design-free areas of your layouts intended to give your publication an uncluttered appearance.
Widow—a stray line at the end of a paragraph that falls at the start of the next page/text column, separated from the rest of the paragraph.