Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animals on the cover of .NET Framework Essentials, Third Edition, are shrimp. Different species of shrimp are found in marine and fresh water—shallow and deep—all over the world. Swimming backward by rapidly flexing its abdomen and tail, and with the assistance of specialized legs for swimming, the shrimp feeds on smaller plants and animals, as well as carrion. In fact, several species engage in symbiotic (mutually beneficial or dependent) relationships with other organisms. The coral shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) cleans the scales of the coral fish, while the fish in turn swims backward through the shrimp's pincers (presumably to clean them).

Matt Hutchinson was the production editor for .NET Framework Essentials, Third Edition . Octal Publishing, Inc. provided production services. Jane Ellin, Phil Dangler, and Claire Cloutier provided quality control.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 by Andrew Savikas. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Jeff Holcomb.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Madeleine Newell) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, and Jeff Liggett.