Tom Taulli

There's nothing more annoying (and scary) than putting your credit card information on a Web site and getting a server error...This happened to me when I tried to buy an airline ticket...I entered my information three times...and was charged for three tickets. In the wild west of the Web, it's crucial to have airtight Web sites...So how can you test for such things?...One way, of course, is to purchase an automated tool...One definitely worth considering is e-TEST Suite from RSW Software. The first tool is e-Tester, a scripting tool that puts your Web site through the wringer – you record (and play back) certain keystrokes that a typical user would enter at your site. The software is built for Windows NT 4.0 and Win95 and 98.ÊYou'll need, at a minimum, 16 MB of RAM and 20 MB of hard drive space...Although e-Tester is built around MS Internet Explorer, you can set u... (more)

Jbuilder

During the past several years, Borland has been in the doghouse as the stock price has languished. But with new management, the company has been showing strong signs of resurgence. Evidence of this is the release of JBuilder, an integrated development environment for Java. But instead of being a tool to make cool Java applets for Web sites, JBuilder is positioned for what Borland calls the "InfoNet," which includes corporate development for the Internet, intranet and extranet. Borland has three JBuilder flavors. First, you can buy the Standard Edition ($99), which is primarily f... (more)

Visual Cafe by Symantec

WebGain says that Visual Cafe "gives developers the fastest, most productive visual programming environment ever for creating Java applets and applications." Usually, this would be corporate puffery. Well, in this case, WebGain is actually understating the power of Visual Cafe. As the Web grows more crowded, you need a way to make your Web site stand out. With Java, you can do this by adding interactivity. Unfortunately, Java is not easy to program. But with Visual Cafe, you will be able to add interactivity with minimal complexity. Visual Cafe's integrated development environmen... (more)

Electronic Commerce Suite 3.0

If you want to create your own Amazon.com, then you should try iCat's Electronic Commerce Suite 3.0 Professional Edition. iCat started developing e-commerce software in 1993, when Amazon.com was just an idea in Jeff Bezo's brain. However, the Electronic Commerce Suite Professional Edition is not for a small Web site because you will need to shell out $9,995. But, if you have a company with lots of products, then the Commerce Suite will have all the features you need. If you go to the www.icat.com Web site, you can see several demos of iCat catalogs, including an online book stor... (more)

Visual J++ from Microsoft

In December 1995, Bill Gates mobilized his company into a war to dominate the Internet. Every product would now require an Internet strategy. Also, Microsoft would "embrace and extend", especially in regard to the threat of Sun's Java. To this end, Microsoft developed Visual J++, which allows you not only to create pure Java programs ("embrace"), but also to develop programs that use the Common Object Model ("extend"). The minimum installation is 14 MB and the full-blown system is 40 MB. You will also need at least a 486 running Win95 or Windows NT 4.0. Win95 will need a minimum... (more)