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 Swing Hacks is a reflex mallet. Doctors most commonly use reflex mallets to test a patient's "knee-jerk" reaction, which indicates the integrity of the spinal cord in the lower back region. A reflex is a simple nerve circuit, and when tapped by a reflex mallet, sensory neurons send signals to the spinal cord. Reflex tests are part of a neurological exam, and they can be helpful in testing the presence and location of spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular disease.

Marlowe Shaeffer was the production editor and proofreader for Swing Hacks. Derek Di Matteo was the copyeditor. Sarah Sherman and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Ellen Troutman-Zaig wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a photograph from photos.com. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Keith Fahlgren to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. 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, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. This colophon was written by Marlowe Shaeffer.