Tech Topic Connection

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 I am interested in programming languages and how those are interpreted by internet browsers on the web.  In fact, right now I have been personally studying cascading style sheets and trying to convert my old static HTML web sites into responsive, mobile-friendly web sites.  I am really perplexed by all the programming options (like Bootstrap, Foundation, etc.) and how different browsers interpret the various code.  I have read in various articles that Flexbox CSS coding is supposed to make aligning CSS containers simplistic. From what I understand, it sounds challenging to learn but once I master it, I think it might improve my design time and make my layouts look better. I am continually looking for ways to enhance my web sites. CSS and Flexbox connect to the fundamentals of information technology covered in this course because they are connected to programming languages.

 My topic specifically related to programming languages online which is an extension of computer programming languages.  At the beginning of web design (1990’s), HTML or Hypertext Markup Language) was used to display text, links and would go on to support images and tables. Eventually table-based designs became popular for providing designers with more options and structure. CSS became popular in the early 2000’s and “provided designers with a means to style elements separately from the content (Craig, n.d.).” All elements could be coded to use a specific style.  For example, a button on a web site might use a stroke effect around the button and use a 12pt Arial text label.  That style would be given a name and could be applied to all buttons on the web site to provide consistency throughout. My topic is a part of the evolution of online computing languages.

 Computers use software known as web browsers such as Safari, Microsoft Edge or Firefox to interpret high level programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and output (display) them in a format that is viewable and can be interacted with by the end-user. This relates to the concepts of information technology and computer science because computers use high level programming languages to “enable greater programming productivity. (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017, sec. 2.10).”

Internet programming languages rely on the computing power of major hardware components and functions of a modern computer system to keep up with the latest changes in web design coding.  A few examples of changes that affected web design and affected system components was when Internet Explorer stopped supporting advances in web design limiting its capabilities, the addition of Macromedia Flash (Adobe Flash) to web pages (and eventual removal), and the addition of HTML5 for responsive web site designs. These changes may have required an upgrade to the computers operating system, web browsing software or hardware in order to support and enjoy these web enhancements.

While my topic does not directly relate to the basic concepts of database and database management, CSS styles could be stored in a database and coded to be retrieved and interpreted by a web browser although that would require complex programming.  Databases are commonly used online.  Blog posts and news articles are commonly stored in a database and then retrieved through PHP or other programming languages to be displayed online.

 
Security is always a concern online because web developers don’t want to risk having their work hacked and the modified, stolen, or worse- taken offline. Web pages are stored on a web server that utilize firewalls and other security means like permissions to prevent unauthorized users from making changes while allowing public requests to access and view web pages. It is common for web designers and hosting providers to make regular backups that can be used in the event of a hacking as web servers are under constant threat of attack by hackers. One common attack used by hackers is a denial-of-service attack, which “is achieved by submitting huge numbers of access requests simultaneously to one target website, causing that site's web server to be overloaded, thus preventing legitimate requests from being handled (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017, sec 8.6).” CSS can also be used in attacks and are often undetected because an attack is launched when a user browses the compromised web page. A CSS client attack can “bypass the detection of the firewall, implicitly and effectively implant malicious code on the client, and then automatically download and execute the malicious executable file without the user's knowledge also referred to as a -by-Download. This type of malicious attack often uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to hide the redirected attack page, avoids the abnormality of the visual effect of the webpage and increase the probability of escape. (Chen & Shi, 2008, p. 1155).”

 References

Chen, B., & Shi, Y. (2018). Malicious Hidden Redirect Attack Web Page Detection Based on CSS Features. 2018 IEEE 4th International Conference on Computer and Communications (ICCC), Computer and Communications (ICCC), 2018 IEEE 4th International Conference On, 1155–1159. https://doi.org/10.1109/CompComm.2018.8780783

Craig, W. (n.d.) The Evolution of Web Design. WebFX. https://www.webfx.com/blog/web-design/the-evolution-of-web-design/

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/


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