four-color glossies

four-color glossies
 n.

   1. Literature created by {marketroid}s that allegedly contains
   technical specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible
   without being totally {content-free}. "Forget the four-color glossies,
   give me the tech ref manuals." Often applied as an indication of
   superficiality even when the material is printed on ordinary paper in
   black and white. Four-color-glossy manuals are never useful for
   solving a problem.

   2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't contain
   enough information to diagnose why the program doesn't produce the
   expected or desired output.