This document describes the YBox framework that enables web application developers to rapidly develop web applications for the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform, The YBox is a fully implemented and tested framework that provides a “front-end” for Servlet Containers and contains functionality that all userbased web applications for virtual communities require. The YBox extends the functionality of the Servlet Container and the Servlet 2.3 API and is implemented in a platform independent manner, which means the YBox will run on any operating system or any Servlet Container. As a result of extra functionality added by the YBox, the presentation logic is clearly separated from the business logic in a web application. This also enables the web application to provide content to more client types and automatically perform form validation on all web forms submitted from clients. The YBox framework also allows the web application designer to control access to protected content from one central resource. Finally, the YBox framework enables session persistence across multiple sessions, therefore, user information is not lost between sessions.