An ink-jet printhead chip in which digital image data is submitted to circuitry on a printhead, "mode signals" are periodically loaded into the printhead circuitry along with the image data. The mode signal can determine which of a plurality of subsets of ejectors in the printhead are to be activated at any given time. By iteration or manipulation of these mode signals, various specific print-quality techniques, such as entering a "draft mode" or altering the order of ejector activation across the array, can be carried out.