In digital prepress, shorthand term for halftone cell. See Halftone Cell.
In gravure printing, the term cell refers to one of the many small depressions etched into the image carrier used in gravure printing. A gravure image is composed of thousands or millions of tiny cells, the distribution and depth of which determine the density of the printed image. Cells can be etched into the gravure cylinder in a variety of ways. See Gravure, Gravure Cylinder and Gravure Engraving.
A cell is also one of the indentations engraved into the surface of an anilox roller used in flexographic press inking systems. See Anilox Roller and Inking System: Flexography.
In graphics and animation, the term cell refers to a sheet of acetate or other transparent sheet on which a figure to be animated is drawn. Since each figure is on a transparent sheet, they can be animated separately from other figures, such as backgrounds. Animation in such a manner is known as cast animation. In this sense, cell—short for celluloid—is often spelled cel.
In scanning, the term cell is used to refer to any collection of pixels treated by the device as a single unit. Common cell sizes are 4 x 4 or 6 x 6. Larger cell sizes can include more gray levels. Analogous to a halftone cell.
In spreadsheet programs, a cell is a particular field in which information is placed. Cells can be identified by horizontal and vertical coordinates.
In telecommunications and networking, the term cell refers to a particular packet of data used in cell switching protocols. See Cell Switching.
The term cell is also a shorthand term for cellular, a technology used in mobile telephony. See Cellular.