COMPUTER & INDUSTRY LANGUAGE
For Commercial Art

MACINTOSH
 Computers known as “Mac” for short
 A family of personal computers
 Manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc.
 Since 1984
Apple History
Apple History
Apple History
 What Ms. Messer used in 1989
Apple History
 Funny Apple Ad…
mid 1980s
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT
 Or “CPU” for short
 A computer’s primary control circuitry
HARDWARE
 Equipment and electronic components that make
up your computer system
SOFTWARE
 Computer applications / programs
 Written coded commands that tell a computer
what tasks to perform
 Do not install any additional software on any
of the Commercial Art computers!
SOFTWARE
BIT
 A binary digit
 This is the single digit of a binary number
 The smallest unit of information a computer can
hold
 0 or 1
RAM
 Random Access Memory
 Found in computers and other devices, like printers
 The main memory available for programs
 Don’t confuse with ROM (Read-Only Memory)
 Special memory that stores
programs that boot the
computer and performs
computer diagnostics.
MONITOR
 The hardware that displays information, text, and
visuals on a screen in full color
 The iMac computers we use in class include both
the monitor and the CPU within one unit
RGB
 Red, Green, Blue
 The primary colors of a screen / monitor
PIXEL
 Short of “Picture Element”
 The smallest unit of a picture element / digital
image displayed on a screen / monitor
PIXEL
PIXEL
PIXEL
PIXEL
PIXEL
DPI
 Dots per inch
 Refers to the measure of output resolution
produced by the printer
 The higher the DPI, the higher the image quality
PPI
 Pixels per inch
 Refers to the measure of resolution produced on a
computer monitor
IMPORT
 To bring a support file into another program
 You will be “importing” a Microsoft Word file into a
Quark document and/or an InDesign document
EXPORT
 To output a document from one application and be
able to place it or open it in another program
 You will be “exporting” PDF files from Quark and/or
InDesign so that they can be read by anyone,
anywhere, on any computer type
KEYBOARD
 The main input device which connects to the
computer, similar in appearance to a typewriter
MOUSE
 A hand-size input device, used in addition to the
keyboard, designed to move a cursor quickly
around the screen
ICON
 An on-screen symbol representing a file or other
computer function
MENU
 A list of choices by a program to select a desired
function
FONT
 All of the characters and numbers available to a
specific family variation of a typeface
 Computer fonts have 2 components:
 Screen Fonts – Display the text on the monitor
 Printer fonts – Communicate to the printer how to
correctly print the text
 An improperly constructed font may not print or
display correctly
FONT
CDs & DVDs
 Storage devices used to save digital data
 Used to store completed projects / backups to avoid
storage of large files on the hard drive
FLASH DRIVES
 A small self-powered device that connects to a
computer directly through a USB port
 Transers file to and from multiple computers
 Both Mac and PC compatible
 Also called
 key drives
 thumb drives
 jump drives
 USB drives
 pen drives
FLOPPY DISK
 A thin, flexible plastic disk coated with magnetic
material
 Stored data - smaller files such as text documents
 Held 1.44 MB of data
 NOT USED ANYMORE!
ZIP DISK
 A portable device used for storing information
 Similar in size to a floppy disk
 Held between 100 and 250 MB of data
 NOT USED ANYMORE!
SCANNER
 A device that converts visual information
into digital data
 Used in conjunction with software that allows you
to scan a visual or document onto your computer
PRINTER
 The process of applying ink / toner to paper
 A piece of hardware that allows you to produce a
hard copy of what appears on the computer screen
LOG OFF (OUT) / SHUT DOWN
 Log Off: To terminate a work session on a computer
 Shut Down: To turn off the computer