Quality Web Systems: Performance, Security, and Usability

Today's web software professionals must deliver new web applications to market quickly, while incorporating proper functionality, ease-of-use, security, and performance. This pressure underscores the need for effective engineering that facilitates both quality and rapid web system development.

Quality Web Systems provides web developers and software test professionals with practical, experience-based guidance on web system engineering. Concise and straightforward, this book provides a framework for ensuring that key web system success criteria is addressed during the development of the web system. Detailed, technical guidance is provided for each success criteria, including testing strategies that allow for verification of a quality implementation.

This book addresses the key success factors of quality web systems including: proper specification of system functionality, ease-of-use, compatibility with a variety of browsers, security, and system performance and scalability. Engineering these qualities into the system throughout the development life cycle, while performing relevant testing, prevents flaws that can later prove to be disastrous, and produces a product that is well-received by its customers.

A case study is used throughout the book to illustrate practical applications of issues, approaches, strategies, and techniques.

Specific topics covered include:

• Web system success criteria
• Engineering functionality through use case analysis
• Test cases from RSI use cases
• Security of web system components and databases
• Compatibility with multiple web browsers
• Performance and scalability behavior
• Load analysis and capacity planning
• Usability concerns and test strategies
• Test tool evaluation guide

With the information and guidance in Quality Web Systems, you will be better able to ensure the development of a quality, timely, and successful web application.

This book provides a framework for ensuring that key Web system success criteria are addressed during the development of a Web system. Detailed technical guidance is provided for all criteria, along with testing strategies that allow for verification of a quality implementation. Success factors covered include ease-of-use, compatibility with browsers, security, and system performance scalability. A case study is used throughout the book to illustrate practical applications of strategies and techniques. Dustin, who is a quality assurance and testing manager at a software company, writes for Web developers and software test professionals.

Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Elfriede Dustin is the lead author of Automated Software Testing (Addison-Wesley, 1999), and Quality Web Systems (Addison-Wesley, 2002). An acknowledged expert in software engineering and testing practices, she has assisted numerous companies in the definition and implementation of QA and testing processes. For more information, please see her Web site at www.effectivesoftwaretesting.com.

Jeff Rashka is coauthor of Automated Software Testing. He has significant industry experience as a test/quality assurance manager, software development program manager, and software division director. In addition, he has served as a SEI CMM /ISO 9000 Process Improvement Director.

Douglas McDiarmid is a consultant specializing in the architecture and development of distributed web systems from use case modeling through definition and verification of system requirements. His experience in Internet-based enterprise systems includes sales force automation, medical bill auditing, and financial management.