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 Networking Personal Computers with TCP/IP is a jerboa, a jumping rodent of the family Dipodidae. Jerboas live in the desert regions of Africa and Central Asia. There are more than 20 species of jerboa, ranging in size from 1.6 to 10 inches, with tails of an additional 2.7 to 11 inches. Their hind legs, which are used for jumping, are at least four times as long as their front legs, which are used only for gathering food or running short distances. Jerboas can jump five to ten feet in a single leap, or they can move using short hops. Their long tails are used for balance when jumping or standing.

Jerboas are nocturnal animals. Although they are not sociable, jerboas within a given area all emerge from their burrows at about the same time each evening and simul taneously head to their feeding grounds in search of food. The jerboa diet primarily consists of seeds, along with some insects and vegetation. They are able to manu facture water from their food, and so have no need to drink water.

The gestation period for jerboas is 25-42 days. Most females breed at least twice a season, giving birth to two to six per litter. The life expectancy of jerboas is less than two years. Jerboas hibernate both in the winter and in very hot or dry summer periods. Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced with Quark XPress 3.3 using the ITC Garamond font.

The inside layout was designed by Edie Freedman, with modifications by Nancy Priest, and implemented in GNU gtroff by Lenny Muellner. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were created in Aldus Freehand 5.0 by Chris Reilley, and the screenshots were processed in Adobe PhotoShop. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.