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 Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration is a Senegalese lioness (Panthera leo senegalensis). Lions rely extensively on group cooperation, a behavior that is unique among the felids. Lionesses are characterized by this ability to work with other members of their pride to achieve common goals. Since they tend to remain in the prides in which they are born, lionesses in a pride are a collection of mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, and grandmothers, with no single member taking a dominant role. Members of the pride often give birth around the same time, and cubs born to any one member are raised by all lionesses, with the young ones suckling freely from different females. If a cub's mother dies, that cub will most likely be cared for by other members of the pride.
Senegalese lionesses are intelligent hunters, exhibiting flexibility and a complex division of labor. Each lioness takes on the role to which she is most suited. For example, the smaller and faster lionesses in the pride act as "wings" that herd the prey toward the larger and stronger "center" lioness, which ambuses and captures the prey. The hunters will also sometimes switch roles depending on the prey and an individual lionesses's strengths. The same lioness that plays a key role in warthog hunts might take on a more passive role in hunting buffalo. Lionesses have also proven themselves to be extrememly adaptable hunters, developing techniques to capture and kill a variety of prey. Prides living near coastal areas, for example, have taught themselves how to hunt seals.
Adam Witwer was the production editor and Nancy Kotary was the copyeditor for Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration. Sada Preisch proofread the text. Mary Brady and Colleen Gorman provided quality control. Johnna VanHoose 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 engraving from Riverside Natural History. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.
David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Andrew Savakis 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, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Adam Witwer