Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a layered printer driver model in which, at the “bottom layer,” a rendering component provides rendering functionality to format information constituting a print job initiated according to a page description language that a printer device is designed to process, and one or more other components that provide configuration and/or user experience functionality may “sit atop” the bottom layer. Any or all of these higher-level components may support not just a single printer device, but a class of printer devices defined by one or more shared characteristics.