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 image on the cover of PC Hardware in a Nutshell is a scallop. The scallop is part of the pecten family, which includes other bivalve mollusks such as clams and oysters. Also called the fan shell or comb shell, scallops can be found on the sandy bottoms of most oceans, in both deep and shallow water. Scallops do not usually stay attached to rocks. Instead, they either rest on the ocean bottom or swim by rapidly opening and closing their shells. The water ejected by the movement pushes them forward and allows them a freedom of movement unusual in bivalves.

The scallop's shell is made up of calcium carbonate and other minerals embedded in an organic matrix secreted from a layer of tissue called the mantle. The upper and lower halves of the shell connect at a straight hinge line that can measure from one to six inches. The shell's paired valves have sharp edges and undulating ridges that radiate out in the shape of a fan, and range in color from red to purple, orange, yellow, or white. Colleen Gorman was the production editor and proofreader, and Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary was the copyeditor for PC Hardware in a Nutshell. Melanie Wang and Jane Ellin provided quality control. Matt Hutchinson provided production support. Joe Wizda wrote the index.

Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an 18th-century engraving from the Dover Treasury of Animal Illustrations. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

Alicia Cech and David Futato designed the interior layout, based on a series design by Nancy Priest. Mike Sierra implemented the design in FrameMaker 5.5.6. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano using Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Colleen Gorman.

Whenever possible, our books use a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds this binding's limit, perfect binding is used.