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 Programming Web Services with XML-RPC is a jellyfish. A member of the phylum Cnidaria, jellyfish are found in all oceans and many freshwater lakes and rivers. The name "jellyfish" refers to the animal's adult stage of development, when it acquires a bell- or umbrella-shaped body and long tentacles. The animal's body (including tentacles) is about 95 percent water and ranges in size from less than an inch to over 100 feet. Jellyfish feed by paralyzing their victims with nematocysts—stinging, harpoon-like cells located in their tentacles. The sting, though lethal to its prey, protects the jellyfish; its body is so fragile that it cannot endure a struggle and must render its prey motionless before feeding. This sting has given the jellyfish a bad reputation among swimmers, some of whom are seriously injured by brushing against the animal's tentacles. Most jellyfish are harmless to humans, though, and are noted more for their fragile beauty than for their sting. Ann Schirmer was the production editor and proofreader forProgramming Web Services with XML-RPC. Paulette Miley was the copyeditor. Claire Cloutier, Sarah Jane Shangraw, and Jeffrey Holcomb provided quality control. Brenda Miller 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 based on a series design by Nancy Priest. Anne-Marie Vaduva converted the files from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6 using tools created by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book; the code font is Constant Willison. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. This colophon was written by Ann Schirmer.