Modular printhead and methods of loading and printing using it

A modular printhead for a color printing including a plurality of nozzles, each nozzle effecting deposition of an ink drop to form a dot on print media during a firing cycle of said printhead, wherein said nozzles are arranged in pods, with said nozzles of each pod connected to a respective common ink supply line, the nozzles of each pod being arranged in a number of distinct rows, and pods of each different color being arranged together into operating groups in which selected mutually exclusive sub-groups of nozzles are gated to enable the nozzle of each sub-group to be fired simultaneously at predetermined phases of said firing cycle, one pod of each different color being grouped together to form a chromapod in which the pods of different colors are arranged so that the dots printed by the nozzles of one color will be for different lines than those printed by the other colors at the same time, but each pod of the chromapod will print the same group of dots in turn, one or more chromapods being formed into a phasegroup in which groups of nozzles are fired simultaneously during a given firing phase, and one or more chromapods being organised into a single podgroup, one or more podgroups being organised into a single phasegroup, one or more phasegroups being organised into a single firegroup in which the same nozzles are fired simultaneously, one or more firegroups making up a segment, and said printhead having a number of segments side by side.