| Understanding printer terminology helps one | | | | Different terms used to explain types of |
| to search for, select and operate printers in | | | | printing are duplex printing, 4x6 printing, 6 |
| a better and effective way. One of these | | | | ink printing, 7 ink printing and 8 ink |
| important printer terms is DPI which stands | | | | printing. Of these, duplex printing refers to |
| for Dots per inch. It is a quantity used to | | | | two sided printing whereby the printer itself |
| define the resolution of printer images. The | | | | reverses the page after one of the sides has |
| higher the DPI, the greater will be the | | | | been printed. 4x6 printing produces |
| details with which the image is displayed. | | | | photograph of snapshot size, while 6, 7 and 8 |
| The term used to measure the printing speed | | | | ink printing technologies employ multiple |
| is known as PPM. PPM stands for pages per | | | | inks to produce high quality, clear and |
| minute and defines the number of pages | | | | bright results. |
| printed by a machine in one minute. | | | | |
| | | | Anti aliasing is an important technology |
| Another important term used to define the | | | | whereby a printer applies mathematical |
| performance of a printer is bit depth. It | | | | formulae to improve the resolution of |
| defines the number of various color tones | | | | character edges.Letter Quality refers to a |
| linked with a dot. A bit depth of 1 implies 2 | | | | printer that is able to produce text similar |
| colors, a depth of 8 implies 256 colors and | | | | to that produced by a type writer. Near |
| that of 24 implies 16.7 million colors. Color | | | | letter quality refers to dot matrix printers |
| balance is a term used to describe the print | | | | which produce text almost similar to that |
| quality. It is a measure of an image color | | | | produced by a letter quality printer. |
| cast. Duty cycle is the number of printed | | | | |
| pages a printer can produce as an output. | | | | Paper capacity indicates the maximum number |
| | | | of printer papers or other media a printer |
| AIO and MFP stand for All in one and | | | | tray is able to contain. Print zone refers to |
| Multifunction Printer respectively. These | | | | the part of the sheet on which the printer is |
| terms refer to machines that are a | | | | supposed to print. |
| combination of printer, copier and scanner. | | | | |
| An inkjet printer terminology is CYMK which | | | | Borderless printing is a terminology used to |
| defines the inkjet colors. In CYMK, C stands | | | | define a technique whereby photos are |
| for cyan, Y stands for yellow, M stands for | | | | produced by a printer with no blank spaces at |
| magenta and K stands for black. A term used | | | | the edges of the page. Brightness refers to |
| as an alternative for printer brand name is | | | | the lightness or darkness of the printed |
| OEM ink cartridges or printers which stands | | | | image. A pixel refers to one of the thousand |
| for Original Equipment Manufacturer. | | | | dots of which a digital photograph is made |
| | | | of. |