Learning web design at a young age is a great way to prepare your child for the future. As the world becomes more digital, web design and coding will become a necessary skill set for many people. And since children are naturally inquisitive by nature, they often want to learn about everything that’s new or different around them. This is why teaching web design from an early age can be extremely beneficial. Below are some ways you can teach your kid about web design:

1) Make It Easy for Kids to Learn
If you want your child to learn web design, make sure they have easy access to information. You don’t need to teach them a programming language right away to introduce them to web design. Instead, you could teach them about basic web design concepts through books or simple websites. The key here is to not overwhelm your child with technical details too soon.
Exposing them to web design topics gradually will help them understand how things work when it comes to designing websites. If he or she is interested in learning about web design, then it will come naturally over time.

2) Use Real-Life Examples
It may seem obvious but using real-life examples helps kids grasp certain concepts faster than reading about something online. For example, if you were talking about fonts with your child, show him/her pictures of actual typefaces used in print media such as magazines and newspapers. You may also use photos of real logos and other branding materials to demonstrate the role these elements play in website designs. Keep analogies simple and straightforward so that your child easily understands them.

3) Let Your Child Ask Questions
Like any other learning process, it’s inevitable that your child will have some questions along the way. Children are naturally curious and want to know how things around them work. Letting them ask as many questions as they want and answering their queries should be encouraged. This is a great way to encourage them to actively participate in the learning process. With more of their questions answered, they’ll feel more confident about learning different aspects of web design.

4) Equip Them with Tools and Resources
Another important part of teaching web design is making sure your child has the proper tools needed to get started. Providing them with a laptop or computer with the tools they need for coding can really accelerate their journey into web design. They can start browsing different websites or even play games that teach them how to code. There are also courses that allow children to learn coding through online lessons. Having a few resources on hand will make it easier for them to explore the possibilities of what they can do with web design.

5) Set Goals
A key element to any successful learning experience is setting goals. By having clear objectives, your child will know exactly what he/she wants to achieve – which ultimately leads to better results. When teaching your child about web design, you should set clear and concrete goals to help determine whether they’ve mastered each aspect of the skill.
You and your kid may want to work towards a project goal such as designing your own website. Or maybe they could just focus on improving their skills in certain areas such as creating a logo or understanding HTML. Whatever the case may be, having a goal helps your child stay motivated and focused during the course of their education.

6) Be Open to Your Child’s Ideas
Learning new skills can sometimes be challenging, and there’s no one way to approach this. However, being open to your child’s ideas is essential when it comes to introducing them to new concepts. Encourage them to think outside the box and consider all the possible ways they can approach web design. They may even find a variety of web design inspiration throughout the process. This will help them develop an interest in learning further.

7) Keep the Process of Learning Fun
As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, learning isn’t always fun. It requires patience, dedication, and hard work. But by keeping the process of learning about web design enjoyable, you have a better chance at helping your child improve their skills. There are many ways to keep the learning experience fun for them. For example, you can encourage them to join clubs or groups where they can interact with others who share similar interests. Some kids also enjoy playing games that them various skills related to web design.

In Conclusion
Web design is a skill that children can start learning at a young age. It’s one of the skills that will become increasingly valuable over time. That said, it doesn’t hurt to introduce them to web design early on. The earlier they begin to understand the basics of web design, the sooner they’ll gain the knowledge they need to succeed. Hopefully, after reading this article, you now have a better idea of how to help your child learn web design.

Good ol’ command execution

First Lesson: DVWA Lesson 1: Installing on Windows.

Now we have everything set up on our Windows machine, we can finally begin we some fun! Login in with the password set during the previous lesson, and head towards the ‘DVWA Security’ tab on the bottom left hand side. Continue by setting the ‘Script Security’ level to ‘Low’, and clicking ‘submit’.

If you’ve installed DVWA on Windows or Linux, keep in mind which when executing commands!

Head over towards the ‘Command Execution’ tab:

• Try entering ‘192.168.1.1’, what happens?
• Are you able to execute any other commands?
• No? Time to read the source, located at: DVWA-1.0.8/vulnerabilities/exec/source/low.php

<?php

if( isset( $_POST[ 'submit' ] ) ) {

$target = $_REQUEST[ 'ip' ];

// Determine OS and execute the ping command.
if (stristr(php_uname('s'), 'Windows NT')) {

$cmd = shell_exec( 'ping ' . $target );
$html .= '<pre>'.$cmd.'</pre>';

} else {

$cmd = shell_exec( 'ping -c 3 ' . $target );
$html .= '<pre>'.$cmd.'</pre>';

}

?>

As we can see, the $target variable contains our user input. Fortunately for us it’s not being sanitized when passed to the shell_exec function. Allowing for our commands to cause malicious behaviour. As we’re hosting DVWA on a Windows Operating System we’re able to run commands consecutively by using ‘&’ in-between each one.

Try out the commands bellow, or your own, if you feel confident in a Windows Terminal environment.

Examples

• “127.0.0.1 & tasklist” – List the hosts current processes
• “127.0.0.1 & netstat -a”- Gives us the current ports opened on the host

Further reading

• Stack Overflow Post
  Code Injection

Damn vulnerable what?!

DVWA (Damn Vulnerable Web App) was made by security professionals, for researchers and enthusiasts to practice and learn different types of vulnerabilities in relation to web applications which can also be used for other things such as software activation keys. Before continuing it must be stressed that the testing of DVWA should be done on an isolated host with either VMware or Virtual Box, separated by a Host-only connection. This is for your safety, not doing so could lead to the compromise of your system. You can store the files on an external hard drive or a USB drive. You can purchase USB drives online from Amazon.

Software:

• Xampp – Download
• DVWA – Download
• VMware Player – Download

Further reading:

• Host-Only Networking
• Difference Between NAT/Bridged/Host-Only
• Understanding NAT

WARNING: THIS IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

• Firstly install Xampp for windows. Then continue on by opening up the Xampp Control Panel, either placed on your desktop, Program files or already started on the bottom left of the screen. Lastly, start your MySQL and Apache services.

• Extract the dvwa folder to this location C:\xampp\htdocs\dvwa. We now open our webrowser and enter ‘localhost/dvwa’ (127.0.0.1/dvwa) into the url bar. If we are presented with a mysql.error() that means the database was unable to be created, but easily fixed in step 3.

• Go on over to C:\xampp\htdocs\dvwa\config\config.inc.php and use your favourite editor to open the file, scroll down to line 20. We now enter the default PHPMyAdmin, in the db_password field, replacing the current one with nothing. Leaving it empty (no spaces)

• Jump to your browser and go to 127.0.0.1/dvwa/setup.php, and click ‘create Database’ Then go to localhost/dvwa/login.php and enter your user name ‘admin’ and password ‘password’.

Next Lesson: DVWA Lesson 2: Command execution Low

Ever wondered what UX Design is? You have probably heard your tech-savvy friends talking about it during a conversation – where you already have no clue what they are talking about. Not quite as confusing as IQ, PQ and OQ acronyms for the quality control industry but UX stands for User Experience. The experience of being the clueless odd one out is frustrating. Most of the time it makes you feel dumb. Continue on reading, as I’m keen to share what I know and enlighten you about the subject regardless if you’re just curious or wanting to branch out from your old discipline of design. So let me guide you through the “What”, the “Why” and the “How” of the subject. Basically the baby steps for now, because we’ll be here till the proverbial cows come home.

What is UX Design?

Starting with the question of ‘what is it’? It’s a User-Centric design discipline with several facets that need to be addressed and the User’s Experience (UX) is at the heart of it all. I know what you’re thinking… that was quite a mouthful to digest. Don’t worry, as I’ll break it down for you. As illustrated in the diagram below, it expresses a multitude of facets that create the user experience. It’s quite a detailed and thorough process; you’re essentially conceptualizing an experience and then creating it. As you can tell I’ve been emphasizing a particular word that is a defining factor amidst all of this: Experience. Because that’s what it’s all about.

The most common example of user experience is an interaction between the user and a systems user-interface, such as using a smart phone. You swipe left, swipe right and you press on the particular app you want to use. An easy experience for anybody. Features like this contribute to constituting a user Experience. However that is merely the beginning, as UX DESIGN essentially aims for a positive and memorable experience for the user and this is when the other factors come into play, even before the interaction. A good example for good UX is the iPhone by Apple. The iPhone UX is so simple it contributes to the brands image, reputation and fits very well. Fun fact even the marketing contributes to a good UX (such as stepping into the apple store itself).

The spectrum of User Experience Design

Why UX Design?

At this stage you’re probably wondering why is it such a big deal? It is a big deal. To put it quite simply: we are dealing with and catering to the needs of the user. It’s not rocket science. To justify the need of good UX is easy, because it has a several facets that constitute the experience as a whole. Websites have become bigger, more complex and brimming with additional features – this has taken away the simplicity from the user experience. Not only have websites have become bigger and complex but they have become more accessible from different devices other than just desktop computers; such as through mobile, tablets, and even the television! This has created a need for greater UX Design to tackle these problems. To simplify what is complicated, and to give users a better experience without sacrificing the additional features, and making it accessible on the many new platforms available.

How can UX be done?

Now we must conclude this article by settling the question of “how can this be done?” As I said before, it’s quite a thorough process. There are several tasks that a UX Design performs at different parts of the process, such as evaluations of a current system, Option A VS B Testing, surveys, wireframes and prototypes. The list goes on.

Example wireframe

For now let’s look at the technique of Wireframing as an example. As you can see this technique is pretty simple to grasp, because all you’re doing is just simply plotting how where features will be placed prior to development. If you’re resourceful enough, you can also do this on pen and paper.  Take into account these wireframes are derived from evaluations, testing’s, surveys etc.  So take your time at this part of the process. At this point the importance of UX DESIGN should be abundantly clear.

I hope this article helps you as much as it helped me sharing it.

Images credited to the respective owners:

UX Spectrum – http://randsinrepose.com/archives/a-design-primer-for-engineers/
Wireframe example – http://webarmy.co.nz/portfolio/
For a more in-depth read on UX check out this great UX Checklist