Edit PltcfgWeight MapsDOTS

Question

I started to edit a pltcfg. I wanted to manipulate the widths so I went to Edit Printer Driver Configuration>Weight Maps there I was a bit surprised when instead of seeing "in." or "mm" I saw "dots". It starts off @ 1 dot for 2 design weights and goes to 16 dots. 
 I haven't seen this before. I would like more distinction between each design weight, closer to the image on the right. And since I'm here maybe someone could educate me as to what "dots" refer to. 
 
 Thank you

Andrew Edge · Accepted Answer

Dots are to paper what pixels are to a display screen. When describing printer resolution, the term DPI stands for "dots per inch". 
 
When defining print widths for a raster printer driver configuration, such as tiff.pltcfg or jpeg.pltcfg, dots can be a convenient unit if the output is intended primarily for screen display. But they are less than ideal for printed output. For example, say printer.pltcfg defines a width to be 10 dots. When printed to a 600 laser printer, the width will be 1/60 inch. When using the same .pltcfg to print to a 300 DPI DesignJet, the width will be 1/30 inch. 
 
For consistency and ease of use, defining print widths in inches or millimeters is generally recommended. When printing, all .pltcfg pen widths are internally converted to dots using the current printer resolution, so there is no functional reason to use one unit over another in the .pltcfg. Just whatever makes most sense to you.

Mark Marrero · Answer

Dots are just a different method of defining weight. Not normally used as much as MM or IN but to some users they like using Dots as it gives them a better weight definition then the other 2 options. In some cases users will define the weight unit depending on the printer/plotter they use. You will just have to try different options until you find the unit and width definition for your data/printer combo.

Edit Pltcfg>Weight Maps>DOTS