The application returns software generated html forms and pages to the WWW server. These include the main login form for a course, the page displaying the grades, the password changing form, and various other pages containing error messages. Besides choosing a language and determining how the software will interact with the WWW server, there were several other critical design issues. These include security, ease of use, and flexibility. 2.1 Security With a large amount of information being passed between the WWW browser, WWW server, and the Gradebook software including grades which must be kept confidential security is a primary concern.
Security begins with the student's username and password.
This ensures that those casually browsing the WWW or other students are not able to view grades. Another more remote problem is that someone will intercept usernames and passwords as they are transmitted between the WWW browsers and the server. The other primary security issue is protecting the password information and the grades on the host system where they are stored. This is accomplished through basic Unix file permissions. The Gradebook files and the directory they are stored in should only be readable by their owner, i.e., the person keeping the grades for a given course.