It's interesting but it lacks more valued content. The introduction about Web paradigm (you know, client/server architecture, technologies, ...) is not useful at all to people looking for uml anaysis and design solutions for it. Anyway I've found it a good lecture for beginners and some intermediates.

It's interesting but it lacks more valued content. The introduction about Web paradigm (you know, client/server architecture, technologies, ...) is not useful at all to people looking for uml anaysis and design solutions for it. Anyway I've found it a good lecture for beginners and some intermediates.

I hate it when authors will assume their book is going to read by neophytes so they better include a detailed description of what html is - or what a browser is....

Anyone reading this book is probably looking to design enterprise quality web applications using UML. One would think that based on the title at least...Which is a fairly advanced goal. How would anyone who requires UML exposure not understand a client-server relationship???
This author wastes time and paper droning on about ridiculously obvious topics. Let me give you an example:::

"HTML defines a set of tags that can be used either to tell the browser how to render something or to define a link to another Web page. All tags are enclosed by angled brackets (< and >). Tags are usually used in pairs, with beginning and ending tags. For example, the emphasis tag: italicizes a word. A sample sentence and the HTML to render it follow:"

WOW!!!! How very relevant!!!!
Anyway he's not the first author to increase the book's shipping weight w/ fluff and he probably wont be the last.

I hate it when authors will assume their book is going to read by neophytes so they better include a detailed description of what html is - or what a browser is....

Anyone reading this book is probably looking to design enterprise quality web applications using UML. One would think that based on the title at least...Which is a fairly advanced goal. How would anyone who requires UML exposure not understand a client-server relationship???
This author wastes time and paper droning on about ridiculously obvious topics. Let me give you an example:::

"HTML defines a set of tags that can be used either to tell the browser how to render something or to define a link to another Web page. All tags are enclosed by angled brackets (< and >). Tags are usually used in pairs, with beginning and ending tags. For example, the emphasis tag: italicizes a word. A sample sentence and the HTML to render it follow:"

WOW!!!! How very relevant!!!!
Anyway he's not the first author to increase the book's shipping weight w/ fluff and he probably wont be the last.

The book only covers an overview of modeling, the reference application covers only basic diagraming and looses too much time building diagrams that describe interaction between the web server and the page controller: Aspects already handled automatically by web servers which would be better to oversee.

This book should have a permanent place on the shelf of any Web application designer/developer. I found the book most useful as reference material. Admittedly, I wish the book had more complex examples (models). Though it does take the reader through a short introduction to designing web applications, its primary value is the presentation of the WAE (Web Application Extension) to UML.

The author is the creator of that notation, and this is the only book I've found that discusses WAE in any depth.

This book should have a permanent place on the shelf of any Web application designer/developer. I found the book most useful as reference material. Admittedly, I wish the book had more complex examples (models). Though it does take the reader through a short introduction to designing web applications, its primary value is the presentation of the WAE (Web Application Extension) to UML.

The author is the creator of that notation, and this is the only book I've found that discusses WAE in any depth.

This book saved my thesis! its easy to read and has a well worked though sample application at the end.

Simply stated, the author should *not* be talking about software development, but only introduce his notation and explain it. That's all. His coverage of use cases, OO analysis and design is useless, when not misleading.

Leave it on the shelf. Is you need to develop web applications buy something related to the particular technology you are working with (e.g. servlet).

For the UML, buy something serious...And, of course, Applying UML and Patterns, if you want a good introduction (and more) on OO Analysis/Design.

Part I of this book, 25% and 78 pages, is a quick review of HTTP, HTML, and other web technologies. In part II the author proceeds step by step through the typical software engineering phases beginning with requirements definition, illustrating the use of UML tools for the general case of a project where the user interface will be a browser (thick or thin, your choice). Requirements and analysis steps are not particularly heavy with new material; but in the design phase the author nicely extends UML with notations for server pages (ASP, JSP, or other), client pages (HTML, DHTML), forms, framesets, client script objects, etc. There are lots of code shells for the server and the client. The author is clearly a programmer as well as an architect and modeler.

Two of the four appendices are very useful. One summarizes the extensions. Another provides all of the UML diagrams and even code outlines for a small sample project.

The book is heavier on the Microsoft technologies than Java, and it's too bad that the book predates .NET. The concepts are still useful and with some thought can be extended to the richer environment presented by .NET.

Since many projects start with an inflexible constraint that says the user interface will be a browser connecting to an Internet server, someone working on such a project might as well was have his UML reference in a Web flavor. I am aware of only one other book with this specific purpose, and it is for Java and out of date.

Some new concepts, good writing, lots of UML diagrams, and lots of code shells give it four stars.

UML was difficult to apply in web-based applications, before
this book was written.

To the reviewer below. The white paper is available on Rational's website. For people who want to know more, read this book.

Part 1 of the book is useful for learning something about the Microsoft way of doing things. I work in a Java, open-source environment designing community web-portal applications. Our applications are medium-sized, but complex.

The second part of the book is good at explaining the workflow and artifacts delivered from architecture, through requirements, analysis, design, to implementation. The process is lightweight, and the book is well written. The The only sections I skipped were the 50-odd pages full of code.

The Web Application Extension (WAE) presented in the book is very useful for designing complex web applications. WAE is starting to become more common. It is catered for in GDPro, and there are plugins for Rational Rose and Visio.

This book complements Rosenberg and Scott's "Use case driven object modelling with UML" well.

I bought this book looking for a common language for describing web project requirements and design that we could use for project specification and working with partners. I am an experienced Web Project Manager with a lite experience of UML in the past.

The book assumes UML knowledge, but the first 150 pages are dedicated to explaining web technology to the reader. Not quite "The Internet for Dummies", but hardly critical content?

When eventually the author gets into the meat of the Web Extension for UML, it's interesting, but he still spends a lot of time talking about thick-client applications, which really are the exception on public websites. There is one pretty extensive example based on ASP, complete with code. The WAE is useful, but of 300 pages, I found only about 50 useful. A lot of it has already been publisher by the Author on his own website.

There is only enough subject in this book for a white paper. You have to read to page 150 to get to any actual UML.

Sadly, the ideas in this book for using UML to build web applications are excellent. But that only took fifteen pages in a 250 page book.

This is a good book to borrow. Spend the thirty minutes it takes to read what good information there is, then spend your money elsewhere.

This book is not bad as books go. It is a good introduction for beginners but if you want to write real Web applications you will have to look somewhere else (at least this is what I would have to do) My main criticisms and suggestions for improvement are:

1) better explanation of boundary, entity and control objects 2) nowhere is there a mention of statecharts (essential for this kind of application area?) 3) Using packages to suggest that they are the same as architecture is not 100% kosher in my opinion (see page 108) 4) There are other ways to define a logical model for applications than the usual layered model (see again pages 107-108). For example, the SELECT method uses service-based models that are more robust an closure to the real business model. The layers model will be difficult to scale and I am not sure if it is really robust as suggested in the book's cover.

As a buyer, I got carried away by the words 'Web' and 'UML' in the book's title.

Looking into reviews for this book I decided to buy it without any doubts. I just finished this book and I can tell you that in my opinion this book is very poor and condensed version of "Applying UML and Patterns" by Craig Larman (which I just addore) and "Web Master in Nutshell" (which is pretty good and solid reference/introduction into web related technologies). If you read both these books don't spend your money on this one because you won't find anything new. Cheers.

The first half of the book is an introduction to web applications while the second half of the book illustrates the author's UML extension for designing web applications. The introductory material includes a substantial discussion on the definition of a "web application". Essential web technologies are discussed in a summarized fashion including HTTP, HTML, forms, frames, session management, DOM, ASP, JSP, scripting, JavaScript, events, applets, beans, ActiveX, RMI, CORBA, DCOM, XML, and security. The only missing item is Adobe's portable document format, PDF, which is a cross-platform document format used in both web sites and web applications.

The author has developed a UML extension for modeling web applications. The extension includes stereotypes for a server page, client page, form, frameset, JavaScript object, target, web page, ASP page, JSP page, servlet, and script libraries. Many of these stereotypes have an associated icon. New associations include <>, <>, <>, <>, <>, and <>. The <> association indicates a dynamically generated web page. The classic "shopping cart" application is designed and implemented. The design includes a set of UML diagrams using the UML extension for web applications. The source code in the implementation uses ASP, VB Script, and HTML.

I've used the second half of the book extensively. Previously I wrote the first-half wasnt that good. Thats not correct - the first half of the book is a great introduction to web development for newbies. This is a great book to teach you HOW to DESIGN a dynamic web application.

This book is a refreshingly good read for motivated web businesspeople readers, given it's technical subject. It also delivers exactly what it promises. As used in the books title, the author defines the fussy term "web application", vs. web site, in both formal and inform terms. Informally and quite succinctly, he defines web applications as a software application which uses a web page as its front end (ie. it's user interface). Formally, a web application is a web site where user input and/or navigation affects the state of the business beyond simple hit counters and and access logs. Based on such definitions, an e-commerce enabled web site would clearly be a web application, whereas web site, however kewl, is not. If you are just building web sites, you will probably find this book to be overkill.

PART ONE is an excellent introduction to the role of ubiquitous web application tools such as HTML, JavaScript, Style Sheets, DOM, ASP, Java, ActiveX, CORBA and XML to name some highlights. PART TWO walks the motivated reader through a well-developed, and to me, surprisingly involved, iterative process for turning vague ideas into solid application.

The appendices are even helpful. Appendix A is a visual directory for the Web Application Extension for UML. Appendix B is a sample use case which reader will find very useful as a template for future projects. Ditto for Appendix C, a sample model for a Glossary Appllcation using ASP.

Do not be mistaken. By itself, this book will not likely make you an expert in UML. Fortunately, it also manages to avoid any heavy-handed favoritism between technology products mentioned, including products from Rational Corporation. Refreshing!

As a web development project architect who is on the steep part of the learning curve, I will doubtlessly be able to add some rigor to my firm's process, beginning with initial client discovery and leading through delivery of a killer pre-development site design documentat -- one in which developers, graphic designers, managers and most importantly, clients, will appreciate. Additionally, the superior documentation which this process affords will, no doubt, significantly improve software, which is what it's all about.

That said... bring on the next mega-project. I think I feel a home run coming on!

You are about to start building your first web application. You have been surfing the web, reading magzines about technology, architecture, methodology etc. You are overwhelmed by the changes in technology. You are looking for someone who will put all this together and give you an overview how to build a web application. Well, then, this book is for you.

You will get a thorough introduction to the client side, serverside technologies in the first part. The second part gives you an overview of how to gather user requirements, develop use cases, do the analysis, design and finally implement the design in the architecture decided.

The only disadvantage in the whole scenario is it assumes familiarity with UML notations. If you are new to Object oriented technology, then understanding UML is a good thing to do before jumping to the second part of this book.

Honestly, I'd own this book with only a little conviction. In truth, I now effectively work with UML on web application. In truth, I trust in the Addison Wesley's OO series, but I found to much buzzword in the title to be honest ... But in fact, the book is good ! It's probably too light for UML experts (I pretend to be one of them), it's also probably too light for web experts (I'm not). But, first of all, it's very rare to be the both. Second, the book really makes the connexion between both worlds ! And it makes it in a smart fashion with good and effective ideas, like simple activities and effective traceability. If you know Doug Rosenberg's book, you will be easy with the proposed ideas. OK, it's not the book of the decade (unlike Design Patterns, for example), but it's far from a lost of money, and the book can be red very fast, which is also a very good point.

Jim does a great job of helping the novice developer understand how HTML-based projects can benefit from established methodologies for analysis and design.

If you've already done server-side programming, don't waste your time on this book. However, if you are transitioning from doing static web design to working with developers and database administrators on back-end functionality, this book will help you navigate this new domain.

The book only rates a 3 because is promises value not just to analysts and designers (which it does well), but also to project managers, architects, and web programmers (all of whom would likely be bored to tears with most of this volume).

Another useful aspect to this book is the way that it reviews the landscape of competing technologies in the web development arena. His perspective is unbiased, although his examples are heavily dependent on Microsoft standards.

Looking at some of the reviews, I might have thought that this book was really hokey, but I bought a copy and read it. I'm glad I did.

Most of the people in my organization are having a tough time getting their requirements together for our next application. Most of them are seasoned domain experts, but this is their first Internet startup. They "get" the web, but have little understanding of how it works or how the engineering department is making their application happen. I *like* this book because it is small enough that I can hand it to a domain expert, tell him or her to read it, and expect afterwards that while the person might be a bit overwhelmed, that they will have more of a clue about how to work with engineering in the future. And for the part of our engineering team, we have been together now for a total of three weeks. I expect that this book will be an easy read to both set the expectations of all the team members of each other; both higher for those with no experience in UML or good OOD, and as an "expectation baseline" for those that do have more formal design experience.

I'm back here to buy a copy for everyone on the team, actually!

The first half of this book isn't so good. Its a true beginners survey of web technologies and how to do a project. But like most books that want to provide a sweeping overview of all web technologies, it doesn't really explain it very well.

I give the book three stars because of the second half of the book - with the WAE - and the focus on using UML in web apps. The second half of the book is quite good.

This book tries to be all things for all people - books like that are usually only found collecting dust as a decoration on a project managers shelve who wants to show the world he/she really understands this UNL [sic]. Just my 2 cents.

I really don't like giving this book only three stars but it just doesn't deliver much useful information for experienced developers. It is an easy read and it's explanation of a UML notation for the Web is interesting but it is only a very small part of the book - a whitepaper on the subject would have been more than adequate. The first half of the book gives a good but rudimentary overview of Web application development. If you are new to Web development then you will find this section useful. The second half of the book also gives a good but very simplistic overview of the object-oriented development process. Once again, if you want a nice high level overview of the process then this section is good too. However, I think most people buying this book are going to be looking for more detailed information than this book delivers. Maybe Addison Wesley needs to have a "Beginner" and "Professional" series like Wrox Press does.

This book brings a measure of structure to an otherwise unstructured development arena, and is a harbinger of things to come in computer book publishing. I would expect similar books from Wrox and the other major developer presses. Don't wait for the knock offs. Buy this one and get a jump start on the rest of the world.

Jim's examples are great. Laying out a collection of documents that model his approach to web application modeling was very effective.

I would suggest that future editions assume more in terms of the reader's baseline knowledge (the first part of the book is a great synopsis of web technologies, but is major repeat for most I would think... although perhaps the average Addison Wesley reader is less informed in this regard...?)

Jim should write a book that surveys major process models (UP, MSF, ICONIX, etc.) and applies his proposed discipline of web app modeling in each process model for projects of various sizes. It is clear how one would apply this approach on long projects... I am very keen on seeing an approach that scales down to 3 week to 3 month projects while not completely sacrificing the modeling discpline. As it stands I don't see UP scaling this far down! ICONIX is close... MSF is the closest, bust lacks much in detailed modeling process.

You may want to skip the first 80 or so pages of this book if you are already a seasoned web programmer. This section is an introduction to web based programming.

The rest of the book is a very informative, practical guide to the use of UML within a web based project. I also found the book to expand upon and clarify the ideas from 'The Unified Software Development Process' book.

It is a tribute to the versatility of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and a compliment to its authors that it can be used to model web applications. Given the origins of the UML as a tool to model projects using Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), it is easy to believe that that is the only place where it can be used. Web programming is largely done in JavaScript and VBScript, where the first is only somewhat object-oriented and latter nowhere close.
In this book, the author introduces some new notation that can be used to model the construction of web applications, and given the topics of recent journal articles, it is somewhat overdue. I have read some articles recently where the topic is the planning of a company web site. The consensus is that one should plan for several months before the official launch. Translated into real terms, this amount of planning can be summed up in a single phrase, "model it."
The real significance of this book is the introduction of the concept of modeling with regard to web applications and that is what makes it valuable. Without the appropriate terms, it is not possible to properly describe a course of action, and the author introduces the necessary terms. The core of the book details the steps in a typical project:

1) The Process
2) Defining the Architecture
3) Requirements and Use Cases
4) Analysis
5) Design
6) Implementation

applied to the goal of designing, building and maintaining a substantial web presence. With the emphasis on the modeling, very little in the way of HTML and scripting skills are needed and very little code is presented.
If you are in the process of planning a web application, either a replacement or a new one, then it is worth your while to examine this book. For many businesses, a quality web presence is now an absolute necessity for survival. This book will help you achieve that.

It is a tribute to the versatility of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and a compliment to the authors that it can be used to model web applications. Given the origins as a tool to model projects using Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), it is easy to believe that that is the only place where it can be used. Web programming is largely done in JavaScript and VBScript, where the first is only somewhat object-oriented and latter nowhere close.
In this book the author introduces some new notation that can be used to model the construction of web applications, and given the topics of some recent journal articles, it is somewhat overdue. I have read some articles recently where the topic is the planning of a company web site. The consensus is that one should plan for several months before the official launch. Translated into real terms, this amount of planning can be summed up in a single phrase, "model it."
The real significance of this book is the introduction of the concept of modeling with regard to web applications and that is what makes it valuable. Without the appropriate terms, it is not possible to properly describe a course of action, and the author introduces the necessary terms.
If you are in the process of planning a web application, either a replacement or a new one, then it is worth your while to examine this book. For many businesses, a quality web presence is now an absolute necessity for survival. This book will help you achieve that.

If you use UML for designing web sites this book is a must have. The book covers everything from beginner to advanced for UML web development. This book is built for the hardcore designer and will really make you think about the way that you design. The book has lots of examples and comes with a reference guide to boot. It has a home on my bookshelf.