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 tool on the cover of Linux Desktop Hacks is a wood plane. For carpenters of the past, wood planes, which are used to smooth, shape, and straighten wood surfaces, were once indispensable tools. The typical carpenter lugged around an entire chest full of planes, each with a special function. This is not surprising considering a single piece of wood can potentially become bowed, twisted, cupped, sprung, and diamonded, all at the same time. Learning to use a wood plane is said to be a difficult and often frustrating task. If the proper techniques are not used, the plane will dig into the wood surface and ruin the board. Seasoned carpenters say that keeping a sharp blade and planing with the grain are the first steps in mastering this tool.

Bench planes, such as jointers and jacks, range in length from 9 to 22 inches or more. These are better than smaller planes for straightening edges, because their length enables them to bridge dips and rises in the wood's surface. Today, power tools, such as routers and power planers, have replaced bench planes for straightening boards, but hand or "block" planes are still the perfect tool for trimming swollen doorways and fitting shingles.

Sarah Sherman was the production editor and proofreader, and Audrey Doyle was the copyeditor for Linux Desktop Hacks . Lydia Onofrei, Claire Cloutier, and Colleen Gorman provided quality control. Johnna Van Hoose Dinse wrote the index.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an image source found at Photo.com. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Judy Hoer 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 Helvetica Neue 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. This colophon was written by Lydia Onofrei.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Ken Douglass, 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.