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 featured on the cover of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition, is a polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Polar bears live primarily on the icy shores of Greenland and northern North America and Asia. They are very strong swimmers, and rarely venture far from the water. The largest land carnivore, male polar bears weigh from 770 to 1400 pounds. Female polar bears are much smaller, weighing 330 to 550 pounds. The preferred meal of polar bears is ringed seals and bearded seals. When seals are unavailable they will eat fish, reindeer, birds, berries, and trash.

Polar bears are, of course, well adapted to living in the Arctic Circle. Their black skin is covered in thick, water-repellent, white fur. Adult polar bears are protected from the cold by a layer of blubber that is more than four inches thick. They are so well insulated, in fact, that overheating can be a problem. For this reason they move slowly on land, taking frequent breaks. Their large feet spread out their substantial weight, allowing them to walk on thin ice surfaces that animals weighing far less would break through. Because food is available year-round, most polar bears don't hibernate. Pregnant females are the exception, and the tiny 1 to 1-1/2 pound cubs are born during the hibernation period.

Polar bears have no natural enemies. Their greatest threat comes from hunting, but in the past 15 years most governments have placed strict limits on the hunting of polar bears. Their population has more than doubled in that time, and is now estimated to be between 21,000 and 28,000. They are not considered to be endangered. They are extremely aggressive and dangerous animals. While many bears actively avoid human contact, polar bears tend to view humans as prey. In encounters between humans and polar bears, the bear almost always wins. Emily Quill was the production editor and copyeditor for Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition. Matt Hutchinson was the proofreader. Sheryl Avruch and Jane Ellin provided quality control; Phil Dangler provided production assistance. Fred Leise wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book using 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.

Melanie Wang designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. 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 Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.