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 Perl Template Toolkit is a badger. The badger (Meles meles) is the largest member of the weasel family, and is found extensively throughout the northern hemisphere. Badgers are the best diggers of all carnivores, and can be found in the sandy or clay soils of dry open fields, parklands, and pastures where there are few large tree roots in their way as they digs.

Badgers are completely covered in gray or black fur except for on the head, where white stripes (or badges) run from the nose to the shoulders. Adult males can weigh as much as 26 pounds in autumn as, to prepare for winter, badgers tend to consume large amounts of food. Although they do not hibernate, badgers sleep in their burrows during winter and live off of their body fat.

The bones and muscles are large for an animal of the badger's size. The forefeet are armed with long, wide claws for digging. The claws on the hind legs are short and shovel-like for scooping away dirt. The flattened body easily slips into small burrows. A badger can dig itself into a hole in a few minutes.

Badgers are nocturnal, foraging for food at night. They eat everything from earthworms, insects, fruits, and berries to squirrels, mice, rabbits, and snakes. If attacked by a person or coyote--its main enemies--the badger acts quickly. The badger digs itself into a hole, throwing dirt and dust into its attacker's face. The badger turns with its powerful claws and terrible bite to face its enemy. The badger then starts to fill the hole in front of it with loose dirt to hide itself. Coyotes usually leave to find less dangerous prey. Few other animals will attack a badger.

Often hunted for their pelts, many countries now have laws protecting badgers. Badgers have been known to live for up to 14 years in the wild, but are likely to die or be killed before they reach this age. Darren Kelly was the production editor, Audrey Doyle was the copyeditor, and Mary Brady was the proofreader for Perl Template Toolkit. Mary Anne Weeks Mayo and Colleen Gorman provided quality control. Tom Dinse wrote the index. Jamie Peppard, Matt Hutchinson, and Mary Agner provided production assistance.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original engraving from the 19th century. Emma produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1using 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 Darren Kelly.