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 and XML Data Binding is an osprey. The osprey is found near lakes, rivers, and seacoasts in every continent except Antarctica. It is especially common in Finland, Scandinavia, and the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. Ospreys are birds of prey with a large wingspan and sharp talons. Most are identified by a small, narrow head, a brown back, and a white stomach. The bird, which eats only fish, feeds two times a day, at mid-morning and in the late afternoon. It hovers over the water, swoops down, and grabs it prey. Then it rests briefly on the water before it flies off to eat its meal.
Ospreys build their nests close to bodies of water. The birds seek sites near food that are surrounded by open space so they can move their large wings easily. Ospreys often choose nesting sites in tall, single trees, power poles, and radio and light towers.
The osprey was nearly an endangered species for many years. Fishing communities sometimes hunted the bird because they feared it would consume valuable fish resources. Industrialization, deforestation, and global population growth were other major threats to the osprey. The use of DDT after World War II also killed a large portion of the osprey population, since this chemical, used to kill insects, also poisoned fish and birds. The pesticide was eventually banned in the United States, but is still a danger to osprey populations in other areas of the world.
Conservation efforts and legal measures have reversed the osprey's shrinking numbers, and the bird is now returning to some of its old habitats. Efforts to build nests for the osprey and reintroduce it to water sources where it once lived have been very successful. Hunting by sports enthusiasts and fishing communities is also a lesser threat to the bird; the 1973 passage of the Endangered Species Act criminalized osprey hunting. Ann Schirmer was the production editor and proofreader, and Norma Emory was the copyeditor, for Java and XML Data Binding. Claire Cloutier, Tatiana Apandi Diaz, and Sarah Sherman provided quality control. Tom Dinse wrote the index.
Hanna Dyer 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.
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 Ann Schirmer.
