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 appearing on the cover of Windows 95 in a Nutshell is a frog (order Salientia). There are more than 2600 species of frog and toad, all easily distinguishable as members of this order. Frogs differ generally from toads in that they jump (toads tend to walk), are more dependent on access to water, and are slimy (as opposed to dry and warty).

Frogs range in size from less than half an inch to almost a foot in length (plus leg length). Despite their dependence on environmental conditions, frogs live in many different surroundings, including water, semi-deserts, and mountains. The only conditions in which they cannot exist are salt water and the iciest and driest frontiers. Frogs undergo a metamorphosis from swimming tadpole larvae to adult form; tadpoles are more subject to predation than are adults. Adult frogs rely on various methods of defense, including flight, poison, and many patterns and colors of camouflage.

Frogs breathe and absorb water through their skin, which is periodically shed. Most are nocturnal or twilight animals, and rely more on their sense of vision and smell than hearing. Many species hibernate through the winter months. Almost all male frogs produce a noise amplified by vocal sacs on the floor of the mouth. Females are frequently somewhat larger than the male, but have a more limited and quieter repertoire of calls. Despite fairy tale claims, it has not yet been proven that frog-kissing produces princes.

A group of frogs is called an army. The worldwide frog population has for some years been declining at unprecedented rates, causing speculation about the overall health of the biosystems from which they are disappearing. Nancy Kotary was the production editor and copyeditor for Windows 95 in a Nutshell; Sheryl Avruch was the production manager; Ellie Maden, Ellie Cutler, and Jane Ellin provided quality control. Robert Romano created the illustrations using Adobe Photoshop 4 and Macromedia FreeHand 7. Mike Sierra provided FrameMaker technical support. Seth Maislin wrote the index, with additional index work done by Marie Rizzo.

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 3.32 using the ITC Garamond font. Whenever possible, our books use RepKover™(TM), a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds RepKover™'s limit, perfect binding is used. The inside layout was designed by Nancy Priest and implemented in FrameMaker 5.5 by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. This colophon was written by Nancy Kotary.