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 tool on the cover of Spidering Hacks is a flex scraper. Flex scrapers are sometimes referred to as putty knives or push scrapers. These rugged tools are commonly used for light-duty construction or home projects, such as wallpapering, painting, or woodworking. Flex scrapers are usually three inches wide, with steel blades ground thinner than a typical putty knife to give maximum flexibility. Thus, they are the perfect choice for applying lighter compounds over broader areas and at a faster rate than putty knives. High-end flex scrapers have ergonomic handles designed to fit the hand and reduce fatigue. Just as a well-designed flex scraper gives improved blade control, so too does a well-designed spidering or scraping hack give greater control and and flexibility when gathering information from the Web and automating and speeding complex tasks.

Genevieve d'Entremont was the production editor for Spidering Hacks. Brian Sawyer was the copyeditor. Matt Hutchinson proofread the book. Derek Di Matteo, Marlowe Shaeffer, and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Julie Hawks wrote the index.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original photograph by Emma Colby. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6 by Andrew Savikas. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Helvetica Neue Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. This colophon was written by Derek Di Matteo.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Madeleine Newell) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, and Jeff Liggett.