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 Learning PHP 5 is an eagle. Eagles fall into the category of bird known as "raptors," a category that also includes falcons and hawks. There are two types of raptor: grasping killers, with beaks shaped for tearing and cutting and short toes with curved claws designed for killing; and grasping holders, with beaks shaped for tearing and biting, and longer toes designed for holding. Eagles are grasping killers. Sea eagles have special adaptations to their toes that enable them to grasp smooth prey such as fish. Their excellent vision enables all eagles to spot prey from the air or a high perch. The eagle then swoops down, grabs its prey, and takes off in flight again, in one graceful movement. Eagles often eat their victims while still flying, breaking them apart and discarding the nonedible parts to lighten their load. Eagles, like most raptors, often dine on sick or wounded animals.

There are more than 50 species of eagle spread throughout the world, with the exception of New Zealand and Antarctica. All species of eagles build nests, or aeries, high above the ground, in trees or on rocky ledges. A pair of eagles will use the same nest year after year, lining it with green leaves and grass, fur, turf, or soft materials. The eagle will add to its nest each year. The largest eagle nest ever found was 20 feet deep and 10 feet across.

Hunting, increased use of pesticides, and the diminishment of their natural environment, with the attendant reduction in food sources, have endangered many species of eagle.

Mary Brady was the production editor and the copyeditor for Learning PHP 5. Leanne Soylemez was the proofreader. Mary Anne Weeks Mayo and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Judy Hoer 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.

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 Mary Brady.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Ellie Cutler) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, Ellie Cutler, and Jeff Liggett.