RGB stands for Red-Green-Blue, which is the name of the color method used on computer displays. CMYK means Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK.

For images to be printed in color, they must be saved as CMYK. Our press uses four color plates to produce full color images. If an RGB image is used in an advertisement, it will print black and white — not color.

Note: Most color printers will print RGB color. Therefore, it is important to verify that each image in your ad is CYMK before submitting your final ad file.

Color Registration refers to the accuracy of lining up the four colors (CMYK) during the press run.

Ink Coverage refers to how well the ink adheres to the newsprint. Problems in this area are described as heavy or light inking.

Gray Bar runs along the bottom of the front page to monitor the ink coverage throughout the entire press run.

Vector images are created with mathematical formulas and can be enlarged or reduced without affecting print quality. Freehand and Illustrator create vector images.

Raster images are created with pixels. Tiny dots are arranged in patterns to create photos and images. Photoshop can only create raster images, so enlarging or reducing the image can greatly affect quality.

Is the number of dots that are printed from the imagesetter. If you look at the newspaper under a microscope, you will see that all text and photos are made up of tiny dots. Line Screen should be 100, Gray Scale and Color.

Should always be 1.5 or 2 times the line screen. The recommended resolution for photos is 200 pixels per inch (100 lines per inch x 2).

Should always be scanned at higher resolutions - usually 500 pixels per inch. File sizes remain low even though higher resolution is used because there are no shades of gray or color.

Images in the newspaper appear 20-30% darker than proofs or the image on your screen. The size of the dot enlarges with every step of the printing process.

Newspapers everywhere are working to eliminate steps in the production process with technology such as pagination and computer-to-plate. By eliminating these steps, dot gain is reduced, thereby improving overall quality of the newspaper.

If you're not sure if you will encounter a dot gain problem, test your ad on a photocopier. Make a copy of the ad in regular mode, then darken the copy 2 notches (20%) with the brightness control. If the photocopy is too dark, it will print too dark.