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 Java Servlet and JSP Cookbook is a fennec fox (Fennecus zerda), also known as the desert fox. Fennes foxes live in arid sandy regions of northern Africa, the Sahara, the Sinai Peninsula and Arabia and are one of the tiniest members of the canine family (eight inches at the tallest and usually less than a foot long). Their relatively huge ears and beady black eyes give them a distinctive appearance. The fennec fox's bushy tail is characteristic of most foxes, and a thick creamy coat camouflages them in their sandy habitat.

Fennec foxes live in burrows and are nocturnal hunters, eating plants, small rodents, birds and their eggs, lizards, and insects. Their hearing is so acute that they can hear even the smallest of prey walking across desert sand. These foxes often stalk their prey and pounce upon it; their vertical leap is two feet high and they can jump four feet horizontally from a standing position, astounding feats for an animal of such small stature. They are rapid and prolific diggers, known for "disappearing" into sand while appearing to stand still. Some reports note that this species can dig a 20-foot-long tunnel in one night!

The fennec fox is not listed as endangered, but is now considered rare in some areas where it was once common. They have been hunted extensively and are sometimes taken from the wild for the pet trade.

Philip Dangler was the production editor and copyeditor for Java Servlet and JSP Cookbook. Sarah Sherman and Matt Hutchinson were the proofreaders. Reg Aubry and Mary Anne Weeks Mayo provided quality control. Ellen Troutman Zaig wrote the index.

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

Melanie Wang designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. This book was converted Julie Hawks 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 Philip Dangler.

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.