Parasoft announced July 10 the availability of its WebKing 5.5 automated testing suite for Web applications.

The new software enables users to run automated testing and analysis of Web applications, addressing four primary areas: Web site risk analysis, functional testing, load and performance testing, and security analysis, the company said. Parasoft officials said WebKing helps to ensure that Web applications meet specific content, performance, reliability and security goals set by users.

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Moreover, using WebKing 5.5 means developers do not have write manual scripts for testing. Instead, WebKing 5.5 provides a graphical user interface to create tests. This enables developers to run tests more quickly and without so many false positives, the Monrovia, Calif., company said.

WebKing 5.5 also features enhanced HTML reporting on Web application functionality, accessibility, corporate branding security and standards compliance, Parasoft officials said.

In addition, the new version of Parasoft's Web application testing suite implements the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, the company said. These guidelines help to ensure that Web applications are accessible to those with disabilities.

"Since we moved to WebKing, we have identified and resolved over 7,000 issues with our Web site," said Bob Cameron, an IT manager at Constella Health Sciences, a unit of Constella Group, headquartered in Durham, N.C. "Most of these issues were Section 508 accessibility issues that we thought had been taken care of through inspections, but they were missed, then cut and pasted all over the system. WebKing was able to quickly identify the issues before releasing the Web pages."

Parasoft WebKing 5.5 is available for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux and Solaris. Pricing for the product starts at $3,995.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.