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 XForms Essentials is a vulturine guinea fowl (Acryillium vulturinum). This African family of birds belongs to the same order as chachalacas, chickens, curassows, grouse, guans, hoatzins, mesites, partridges, pheasants, quail, and turkeys. Sometimes called the Royal guinea fowl--as the tallest and most colorful species of its genus--the vulturine guinea fowl earned its name because of its vulture-like head and neck, while its plumage sports black and white dots and stripes on a background of lilac and cobalt blue.

Vulturine guinea fowl breed well, producing a clutch of four to eight eggs, and laying several clutches if the eggs disappear. After the eggs hatch, the male feeds and protects the chicks for the first few days.

Vulturine guinea fowl thrive in the heat and bright sun of eastern Africa, spending their days foraging primarily in open dry scrublands for grasses, leaves, and other green vegetation. This diet provides them with nearly all of the moisture they require, allowing them to survive for long periods without water. These tall birds--24 inches (60 centimeters) in height--are easily spotted walking through the brush, usually in flocks of 20 to 25 birds, but regularly seen in flocks of 70. In the right conditions, they will consume enormous quantities of insects and also dine on berries and seeds. A flock of vulturine guinea fowl generally escapes from predators by running swiftly, flying only as a last resort. However, the flock also flies when it roosts in trees at nightfall, when the otherwise quiet birds make their characteristic cry, which resembles creaking wagon wheels.

The ancient Greeks and Romans domesticated these birds, and guinea fowl even figure in a Greek myth. When the hero Meleager (whose name means guinea fowl) was slain--after defending the honor of the huntress Atalanta--the goddess Artemis turned his sisters Gorge and Deianira (the wife of Heracles) into guinea fowl, which Artemis considered her sacred birds. However, the god Dionysus begged Artemis to return the two women (known as the Meleagrids) to their human form, and she did. Reg Aubry was the production editor and copyeditor for XForms Essentials. Derek Di Matteo was the proofreader. Claire Cloutier provided quality control. James Quill, Jessamyn Read, and Julie Hawks 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. This book was converted by Joe Wizda 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 Reg Aubry.