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 Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics, and Multimedia is a roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus). The roadrunner is a ground-dwelling type of cuckoo bird found in the southwestern United States, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and south into Mexico. It stands about two feet tall, and can be 20­24 inches long. The roadrunner is possibly most famous for its long legs that carry it quickly through the open, desert environment at speeds up to 15 miles an hour. Though it has wings, the roadrunner typically flies only when in danger. Other characteristics include a long tail and bill, a crest of feathers at the top of its head, and a striped or spotted pattern, typically of brown and white, on its back and tail.

Roadrunners nest in bushes, low trees, or cactus. The male bird sits on the 4­8 eggs during incubation, and roadrunners are considered to be excellent parents. Their diet consists of bird eggs, insects, lizards, snakes, and small rodents. Roadrunners have three calls, the most popular of which sounds much like a dove¹s cooing. Madeleine Newell was the production editor and Nicole Arigo was the copyeditor for Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics, and Multimedia. Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary provided quality control. Jeff Holcomb, Abby Myers, Anna Kim Snow, and Maeve O'Meara provided production assistance. Mike Sierra provided FrameMaker technical support. Cheryl Landes of Tabby Cat Communications wrote the index, and Brenda Miller edited the index.

Ellie Volkenhausen designed the cover of this book, using an illustration created by Lorrie LeJeune. The cover layout was produced by Kathleen Wilson with QuarkXPress 3.32 using the ITC Garamond font. Whenever possible, our books use RepKover™, 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 Alicia Cech based on a series design by Nancy Priest, and implemented in FrameMaker 5.5 by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Rhon Porter using Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Nicole Arigo.