Head First html and css

Get—and keep—the reader’
s attention. 
We’ve all 
had the “I really want to lear
n this, but I can’t stay awake past page one
” 
experience. Your brain pa
ys attention to things tha
t are out of the ordinary, 
interesting, strange, eye-ca
tching, unexpected. Lear
ning a new, tough, technical t
opic doesn’t have 
to be boring. Your brain will lear
n much more quickly if it’
s not.
Touch their emotions.
We now know that your abilit
y to remember something is lar
gely 
dependent on its emotional c
ontent. You remember wha
t you 
care
about. You remember when
you 
feel
something. No, we’re not talk
ing heart-wrenching stories about a bo
y and his dog. We’re 
talking emotions like surpr
ise, curiosity, fun, “what the
…?” , and the feeling of “I rule!”
that comes 
when you solve a puzzle, lear
n something everybody else thinks is har
d, or realize you know 
something that “I’m more t
echnical than thou” Bob fr
om engineering 
doesn’t
. 

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the
 
intro
you are here
�
xxix
If you really want to learn, and you want to learn more quickly and more deeply, 
pay attention to how you pay attention. Think about how you think. Learn how you 
learn.
Most of us did not take courses on metacognition or learning theory when we were 
growing up. We were expected to learn, but rarely taught how to learn.
But we assume that if you’re holding this book, you really want to learn 
how to create web pages. And you probably don’t want to spend a lot of
time. And you want to remember what you read, and be able to apply it. 
And for that, you’ve got to understand it. To get the most from this book, 
or any book or learning experience, take responsibility for your brain. 
Your brain on this content. 
The trick is to get your brain to see the new material you’re learning as 
Really Important. Crucial to your well-being. As important as a tiger. 
Otherwise, you’re in for a constant battle, with your brain doing its best 
to keep the new content from sticking.
Metacognition: thinking about thinking
I wonder how I 
can trick my brain 
into remembering 
this stuff…