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 Access Cookbook is a northern tamandua. The tamandua is also known as the collared, or lesser, anteater. There are two species of tamandua: the northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana), found in Central America and the northwestern part of South America; and the southern tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla), which can be found further south. Tamanduas have coarse, yellowish or brownish fur with black markings and are about half the size of their rarer relatives, the giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla). They can grow to be about 60 centimeters long, with a prehensile tail of approximately the same length, and reach weights of 6-13 pounds.

Tamanduas are occasionally found on the ground, but they prefer living in the trees, where they hunt for ant and termite nests. Like all anteaters, tamanduas have long snouts and extremely long tongues that they use to collect and eat their prey. Since no teeth are necessary for this kind of meal, anteaters' teeth have been reduced during their evolution. However, unlike the completely toothless giant anteaters, tamanduas still have some small teeth remaining (these are useful for consuming the fruits that supplement their diets). They use the sharp claws on their front paws to open ant and termite nests, but they are careful to not destroy the nests completely and take just a small portion of the colony before they go for the next nest. This strategy preserves the colonies for future feedings. Tamanduas are primarily active during the night and sleep through the day in hollow trees or the forks of trees, securing themselves by wrapping their tails around branches. Rachel Wheeler was the production editor, and Emily Quill and Rachel Wheeler were the copyeditors for Access Cookbook. Linley Dolby and Matt Hutchinson provided quality control, and Derek Di Matteo, Judy Hoer, and Edie Shapiro provided production support. Lucie Haskins 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 Cuvier's Animals. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. Buzz Walls converted the files from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6 using tools created by Mike Sierra. 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 Rachel Wheeler.