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We are writing a program to add a “matte” around an image but the developers aren't sure whether to name the method matte or mat. The Oxford American dictionary has mat as an alternative spelling of matte. In this case, we think mat is less ambiguous because matte when referring to a color could mean either the glossiness of the color or to its purpose as a framing element. Any advice? |
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Why not call it a frame or border instead? |
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In computer image processing, it's probably a bad idea to use mat or matte to refer to a border, because of likely confusion with another use of matte. For example, I was unaware of this sense of mat (OED: "an ornamental (often gold) border of paper, metal, etc., surrounding a framed picture. Later also: a border or mount of white or tinted cardboard"). The other sense of matte comes from film-making and means a cut-out that hides parts of an image. In the days of physical film, a matte would prevent parts of the emulsion from being exposed, allowing other images to be exposed on those parts later. (The OED notes both spellings mat and matte, but you can see by comparing Google Books searches for "a mat shot" and "a matte shot" that the latter is the overwhelmingly more popular spelling.) |
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There is no ambiguity. You cannot have a matte-vs-glossy color, because shininess isn’t something you can specify in RGB or HSV. Go ahead, try printing a shiny gold instead of a matte yellow. Won’t happen. It takes incredibly special printing processes to do that. Or gold leaf. And even if there were an ambiguity, this still would be no problem. People can tell the difference. The frame is the matte, as you said yourself. No one will know what you are talking about if you said mat. |
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