On the joys and perils of Joomla

Now I've been website developer for a pretty long time now (seven years to be exact) and I must say it's been a wonderful learning experience with no shortages of surprises along the way. Now these surprises, have been mostly good, as I've been constantly amazed at what the development of the web would bring us next. I've also seen my fare share of nasty surprises that've come along for the ride.

Since I started on this beautiful journey, I've been witness to the hype associated with technologies such as Javascript, Java Applets, DHTML, ASP, PHP and more recently Web 2.0(If I may call is a web tehnology when they first made their debut on to the web scene. But not all have stood the test of time due to various deficiencies in their substance as effective web technology solutions. The advent of Open Source and it's principles didn't make things any easier or clearer for that matter. A lot of the technologies I mentioned above didn't quite make the cut but some did such javascript and PHP which have become strong forces to reckon with. I am a bit skeptical though of what Open Source has done to the development of the web.

Take the introduction of open source platforms such as Joomla, which I must say have a done a lot for the standardization and development of Rapid application building of websites and applications. Touted as a Content Management System or CMS, with all the functionality you could ever want to include in your website. It doesn't end there, it goes further on to provide you and me the ability to extend it(joomla) with your own extensions and plugins which end up either compromising your Joomla! installation or making it one of a kind.

I've found using Joomla! a joy, as it provides me the time to focus on making a website that is refreshing, specific and that users truly enjoy. Less time is spent of making sure the website is stable or that the architecture is extensible. On top of all that the time with which I can deliver a website has dramatically been sliced and diced. Albeit I have found though that Joomla! is not necessarilty the Swiss army knife of tools for making websites. It doesn't always fit everything. Like a friend of mine explained to me, some people use it for everything like online brochures?? Use HTML for goodness sake! Which brings me to some of the perils or dangers of Joomla.

A few days ago while doing my regular morning rounds around the web I noticed that the Joomla website, i.e. the official Joomla website had been hacked. i was just like wow! And after doing a few preliminary checks through google I noticed that a number of other websites had also been hacked and all of them were joomla based. 422 to be exact within a very short space of time. When I got in touch with some of my White Hat Hacker friends online they showed me how the hack was done on one of their own websites which had Joomla installed and I was, once again shocked!

By simply manipulating the URL of a joomla site which normally includes something like index.php?option_com... a hacker could actually trick Joomla(And I'm refering to Joomla! 1.54 and below) into taking him to the reset password page i.e. for the administrator account. I watched in awe as the hacker walked me through which brought me to thinking about writing this article. I know that many other web platforms have their wn fare share of problems but when the developers of that platform get hacked themselves and their website goes down?? You've gotta wonder. There are however numerous tools i.e. Plugins, extensions and components which you use to secure your Joomla installation but with the large fanbase that Joomla has someone is bound to be tinkering while the rest of us are admiring the work done by the Joomla team.

So please beware out there, if you're using Joomla please update regularly to the latest versions of whatever release you're using. But then again my real advise to you is make sure you're using platforms, scripts and web technologies for the correct scenario or purpose. You'll be leaving yourself wide open to a whole host of things.

I love TED

Is it just me or am I the only person who loves to hear ideas from people. Ideas which've been mulled upon for hours, days, weeks and yes even years. But even after all this thinking you find that, that person still has so much passion and conviction behind their idea to the extent that it's developed into an actual real world concept or thing. This is one aspect of life I wish the people of this world could focus more on today and beyond.

If any of you have not heard of TED which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, is an annual conference which brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18mins. You can find out more from their website here: www.ted.com . It just so happens that these three topics Technology, Entertainment and Design are my favourite topics and I'm sure this applies to many more out there.

Before I get lost in more literary rhetoric, I just want to say in terms of mental stimulation this conference tops everything. The website provides hundreds of free videos and podcasts for download on every interesting topical issue relevant to mankind today. I urge you all to take a look. You interest may be in the Arts, Information technology, Biotechnology, TED has it all. To top it all of, these talks are not just done by anyone, but by the leading thinkers and individuals in the world today in each of their respective fields.

I also very happy when TED extended itself to Africa and approached a number of Africa's top thinkers to have their say. As Africans I feel we owe it to ourselves to start thinking more in terms of innovation, technology, design and not to rely on western borne ideas. We have millions of educated, qualified individuals who hold the key to many of our problems. Lets continue to share ideas, develop ideas and more so dare to implement those ideas.

Hiatus Over

Geez it’s been a while since I’ve been back and I’d like to apologize for the raising expectancies so high with my first article and prodding in areas I’d promised to elaborate on. I’d just like to mention that to this day in Africa there’s really no guarantee that you’re going to get internet access. And good reliable inexpensive internet access for the matter. The rate at which countries of the continent are developing is inextricably different.

In my last blog I touched on various issues such as Poverty and it’s link with Information Technology. I hinted at the fact that the two could somehow contribute to each other, but I will elaborate more once I’ve laid the groundwork for a number of other issues which Africa needs to start considering.

One of these issues is the aspect of Critical thinking or Scientific Thinking and how it can be applied to culture, more specifically African culture in order to bring about positive benefits of technology to African Society. This brings me to one of the topics that’s very close to my heart EDUCATION in Africa. I strongly believe that a strong and solid foundation could be built or established with firm commitment to benefit the multitudes of generations to come now with the use of the internet. That is making the internet cheaper and more accessible through investment.

I am a web developer and my eyes have been opened time and time again by just having access to the internet. The thirst for knowledge was there already even in years preceding my teenage years, and when I got access to the first 386 computer, I wanted to know everything there was to know about computers. Even though the rest of my family thought the interest lay in the aspect of computer games.

Alright I think I’ll end my ramblings on the above topics here and now. There’s so much I have to to talk about, there’s just so much happening in the world of Information Technology.