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 animal on the cover of .NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell is a darter. The darter, or anhinga, is a slender bird closely related to the cormorant. Darters can be found near inland waters, such as rivers and lakes, in warm climates all over the world. These birds subsist mostly on fish, which they catch by diving into the water and piercing their prey with their dagger-like beaks.

Like cormorants, darters' feathers become heavily saturated with water when they dive, decreasing their buoyancy and enabling them to stay under water for long periods of time. They may also swim around with their entire bodies submerged and only their snake-like necks and heads visible. Because of this, they are sometimes referred to as 'snake birds.' After swimming, darters perch with their wings spread to dry. Their black skin aids in heat absorption from the sun, helping the birds warm up.

In addition to being strong swimmers, darters are skilled fliers, allowing them to migrate annually. They nest in small colonies, sometimes with herons. Darters feed their young by regurgitating food directly into their beaks.

Linley Dolby was the production editor and copyeditor for .NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell . Brian Sawyer and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Genevieve d'Entremont and Sue Willing provided production assistance. Angela Howard wrote the index.

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. He also designed the CD label with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. 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 Linley Dolby.

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