The story of printing technology is a long and complex one. Printing is a process for reproducing text, images or patterns onto a surface using different mediums, devices and technologies at different times.

History of printing dates back to the 4th century when Woodblock printing method was used for printing text, images or patterns in China. Be it in Middle East, East Asia or all over Europe till the mid-15th Century more or less same technology was in use. It was in the later 15th century when things began to change with the advent of the printing press.

In 1452, Johannes Gutenberg - a German craftsman and inventor introduced the printing world with movable type. He brought together the technologies of paper, oil-based ink and the wine-press for printing. An innovative printing press machine; that used movable type and made printing cheap- remained standard until the 20th century.

If you take a closer look at the history of print, it reveals that the discovery of printing was a convergence of both cultural and technological forces that were evolving for centuries. The print technology had to go through centuries of change even after Gutenberg’s time. Having undergone a number of technological advancements and developments like the Rotary printing press and Iron printing press invented during the 18th centuries and more; some of the more common printing technologies are:
• Blueprint—and related chemical technologies.
• Daisy wheel—where pre-formed characters are applied individually.
• Dot-matrix—which produces arbitrary patterns of dots with an array of printing studs.
• Inkjet—including bubble-jet—where ink is sprayed onto the paper to create the desired image.
• Laser—where toner consisting primarily of polymer with pigment of the desired colors is melted and applied directly to the paper to create the desired image.
• Line printing—where pre-formed characters are applied to the paper by lines.
• Solid ink printer-where cubes of ink are melted onto paper.
• Heat transfer—like early fax machines or modern receipt printers that apply heat to special paper, which turns black to form the printed image.

Mentioned above are the Advances in Print Technology brought by the number of dramatic technological innovations up to the late minute. These have added a great deal of character and dimension to the printing world. Upgradation from the Linotypes, the typewriters, the phototypesetting to development of photo-mechanical composition, cathode ray tubes and laser technologies are the optimum modernized ways employed for availing printing results; today. Computer printing has already moved through several stages of innovation, from the first daisy-wheel and dot matrix “impact” printers to common use of the non-impact printers like ink-jet, laser printers.

It is complex determining the impact of new Advances in Print Technology without reviewing the historical distance, but these innovations will most likely prove to signal another major transformation in the existing technology, influencing the ones on the horizon.