Head First or Head Rush?

By Brett McLaughlin

Late in 2006, the Head First series was going pretty strong, and lots of people were really into a new technology called Ajax. The folks at Head First Labs went deep underground, and surfaced in February with a new title:

 

The book has done pretty well, and lots of people have learned Ajax from it, which is cool. But, there seems to be one question that keeps coming up, over and over.

And to make matters more confusing...

Even though lots of people were asking questions (including our own Skeptical Girl), it wasn't really that big of a deal. The book was selling, marketing was happy... what was the problem? Then, something early in 2008 happened. A few Head First devotees were roaming around Amazon.com, and found this:

So if Head First drank a gallon of coffee...

Here's a little secret about us here at the Labs: we're always trying to come up with new ways to teach things, and to help you learn. And that's how Head Rush came into being. We were working on an Ajax book, and we knew we wanted to get it out really quickly, since the technology was so hot.

Brett: Yeah, we're not always first to market, but this time, maybe we can be.
Beth: And the book can be smaller, too, really focused on a core set of topics.
Eric: It's sort of like Head First, except on a gallon or two of coffee. Instead of having quite as much depth, we're focusing on just the things you need to know how to do to get up and running... fast.
Beth: And we may not cover as much...
Brett: ...but we'll be there for all those early adopters.
Eric: You know, we could do lots of books like this, sort of a fast attack version of Head First. Maybe Ruby on Rails, or even some of the certification tests that are more about cramming stuff into your brain than learning a ton of concept and theory.
Beth: It's not even really Head First. It's using all the principles, but it's sort of a sister series... maybe like...
(muffled shout): ...Head Rush!
Everyone: Perfect!

 

So we changed some design elements...

With Head Rush on everyone's brain, we tried to make things look sleek and fast, with an edgier approach to page design.

 

And the list goes on, too!

We used IM chats instead of cubicle conversations, Pre-Assembled code instead of Ready-Bake code... we even changed out our beloved skeptical girl for another equally sassy woman!

It was all in the name of learning...

...but when Head Rush Ajax was released, lots of people didn't catch all the little changes. In fact, some people thought we'd ditched Head First altogether and changed it, once and for all, to Head Rush.

And even for those who did realize Head Rush was supposed to be a companion series to Head First, they didn't know why we'd made all those changes.

 

 

Head First (and Head Rush) are about learning, not marketing plans or publicity campaigns.

Sure, we could have spent a bunch of money playing hokey videos of Brett, Eric, and Beth explaining the difference between Head First and Head Rush. We could print glossy handouts and add intro pages that explain the difference.
That would have worked...
...but why fix something that isn't broken?
Instead of worrying about all the little subtleties that we thought were so cool, we thought we'd get back to what was really working. So...

 

 

Goodbye, Head Rush Ajax...

It turns out that people want deep learning, in a familiar format that they've learned from before. So rather than convince you that 6-minute abs is in fact 100 times better than 7-minute abs (or some other crazy marketing schema), we've returned to the singular thing we do really well: producing great Head First books.

And not only that, but Ajax has come a long way since 2006. So when it came time to not only update Head Rush Ajax, but dramatically deepen and expand what it covers, there was only one thing we had in mind:

We wanted to write an amazing Ajax book, in the Head First tradition, and make sure that by the time you're done with it, you can kick some serious web programming ass.

Hello, Head First Ajax

Head First Ajax is really gonna rock. It goes way beyond what was covered in Head Rush Ajax, and a lot more. We didn't just take the content from Head Rush, slap a new Head First coat of paint on it, and call it done.

Instead, we looked at how we could teach Ajax even better. So we filled up Head First Ajax with:

• Ajax architectures, and how they're different from traditional web application architectures.


• Brand new sample applications, with more complexity and more interesting Ajax-y effects.
  


• Expanded coverage of the Document Object Model (DOM)
  


• Coverage of the Browser Object Model (BOM)


• Deeper discussions of callback functions


• More on data formats like XML and JSON, and when it makes sense to use each.


• And more depth throughout the entire book.

...and we did it all in a format you know, love, and don't have to scratch your head about. It's coming in just a few months, so keep your eyes out.

So there won't be any more Head Rush books, ever?

Probably not. For now at least, Head First is what our learners want, and that's what we're going to give them.

I thought some of the new stuff in Head Rush was cool. Any chance we'll see them again?

Most people were more distracted by the change in an element, like going from Sharpen Your Pencil to Just Do It, than they were in the new element itself. So unless there's a really good reason, we're going to stick with the Head First conventions you've gotten used to.

But what about Ruby on Rails? That was gonna be a Head Rush book, right?

Originally, yes. But, like Ajax, we've moved Ruby on Rails into the Head First family. So look for Head First Ruby on Rails in late 2008... with thought bubbles, not speech bubbles!

And Head First Ajax isn't just a second edition of Head Rush Ajax?

No, it's a completely new book, built from the ground up. Sure, you might see a few similar pages and ideas, but we started from scratch, because we know a lot more about Ajax these days. And, we've got two years of feedback on what worked, and what didn't.

So you're gonna say Head First Ajax is better, right?

Absolutely, because it is. We've been able to go into topics a lot more, and the teaching is more effective than ever. It's gonna rock... we promise!

 

 

Comments

---

 

Post a comment:

Name

Website

Save?

Email Address (required)

Comments