When we start a project, we generally try to choose the best technology stack as per the requirements of the project and expectations from it. Scalability, cost, performance, available off-the-shelf components, robustness, and users are some of the important factors which are considered while choosing technologies and languages.
One framework/language can be a perfect choice for one project while totally stupid choice for another.
Same is true for Ruby on Rails, the open-source and free framework based on Ruby.
In this article, we have tried to categorize project types into two categories – One, where Ruby on Rails is a good choice and another, where it won’t be a good decision to use Ruby on Rails. If you are into ruby on rails development or planning to hire ruby on rails developers for your project, you must read it.
When to Use Ruby on Rails in your Project?
Ruby on Rails is easy to learn and understand, so it is preferred by many developers for more than a decade as of now.
It is based on MVC (Model-View-Controller) development model, which supports parallel development to speed up the process. At the same time, its rich libraries, modules, and reusable components help the developers too. So, with Ruby on Rails, you can create solutions faster. Test automation, scalability, stability, and community are some more reasons why people choose ruby on rails for their projects.
Here are some projects, in which, Ruby on Rails could be considered a good choice, if used:
- Social Networking Websites or Forums
Whenever you have got to register users with multiple roles and user rights, ruby on rails seems like a fine choice. The rich libraries of Ruby on Rails make it easy to build social media networking websites or forums for developers.
Any feature or capability related to such projects can be easily overcome with the help of off-the-shelf components of ruby on rails. From private messaging to public posts, contacts, media or file uploads – there is nothing which is not supported by Ruby on Rails.
- Content Management Systems
CMSs have to be scalable, so is Ruby on Rails projects. Hence, it is considered a good choice for developing custom content management systems. You should choose it for CMS development as it offers good flexible in designing, efficient features, multi-lingual capabilities and more.
A CMS website, build on ruby on rails, can be made capable of handling a huge number of articles, a big database, a lot of audio-video files, etc. It ensures good navigability for the end-users and good manageability for the website owners.
There exist CMSs like Camaleon and Refinery, which can be directly used for building ruby on rails based websites.
- Custom DBMSs
Ruby on Rails is secured. It prevents SQL injections and other DBMS issues, which makes it a good choice for developing powerful custom DBMSs.
- E-Commerce Websites
Ruby on Rails is frequently used for developing e-commerce websites. The reason is its modular approach and user-friendly features. The framework allows you to upload bulk data (product details and images, etc.). It also enables the website owners to crop images and to create thumbnails, etc. In short, ruby on rails makes the e-commerce website more manageable than usual.
Not just manageability, Ruby on Rails increases the efficiency of e-commerce portals too. For example – Enabling Custom pricing with ruby on rails is comparatively easy.
Additionally, you will find multiple APIs and open-source aids for ruby on rails based e-commerce app development, which will make your work easy.
Why is it good for these projects?
The major benefit of using Ruby on Rails in your project is its development speed. It takes almost half the time in comparison to when you choose some other language for developing your web app or website.
Skilled developers and large community are there to help you out in developing Ruby on Rails project. The framework is quality-oriented and making changes in a ruby on rails project is quite easy. It is secure and hence, can be deployed in business projects.
Besides, writing clean code is easy when you are using ruby on rails. So, your project remains scalable with it. The technology is reliable due to its years of existence in the market.
When NOT to Use Ruby on Rails in your Project?
Ok. We said that Ruby on Rails is an awesome choice for website development. But you know what? Sometimes, you have to avoid using Ruby on Rails for your project.
Why?
Well, we will explain it in a while, alongside telling you when not to use Ruby on Rails in your project.
Here is the list:
- Blogs
Though it is easy to add a blog as a secondary product to your existing website while using ruby on rails, we won’t suggest you to use ruby on rails when you want to establish a blog-only website. Look for other easy, cost-convenient and advanced options like WordPress in this case.
- Small Websites or Placeholders
The websites, which need to look flawless and render just the main information about the business, should not be built using Ruby on rails. Such websites are generally used by businesses, which want a one-page brochure-like website to work as a placeholder for their domain. It is because of the fact that investing a lot of resources and money in such tasks is not a wise idea, especially when you have other cost-efficient options available.
- When Budget is a constraint
Considering yours’ or your clients’ budget before starting a project is mandatory. If the budget is lower than the amount needed to build a good ruby on rails website or app, it is better to drop the idea of using ruby on rails for that project.
Why is it not good for these projects?
Ruby on Rails is considered cost-effective for the businesses, but not for all. ruby on rails projects look costly when you are starting a small blog or you are not establishing a web identity to ‘earn’ directly or indirectly from it. So at such times, you may want to avoid using Ruby on Rails in your project.
Conclusion
Ruby on Rails development services are benefitting for the e-commerce website owners, enterprises, small businesses, for building web apps. The framework lets you leverage multiple facilities like tooling, templating, test automation and community help in you are a ruby on rails developer. At the same time, the neat code written in Ruby on Rails makes ruby on rails projects readable and extensible. So, it is definitely a good choice when you lack the time and have a significant budget.
Ruby on Rails currently sits in the backend of big applications like GitHub, Airbnb, ZenDesk and more. But, it doesn’t mean that Ruby on Rails, on any other technology, is perfect.
Ruby on rails has its own downsides. Its runtime speed makes it an inefficient choice for your performance-critical projects. As the project grows and dependencies increases, its boot speed decreases. Other than these issues, the cost may also make you worried if you are not using this technology for commercial purposes.
Another big takeaway for the internal projects is – If your team is strong at developing websites using some different framework or language which is equally capable, prefer to use that option instead of using Ruby on rails.
Now, are you going to choose Ruby on Rails for your project or settling down with some other technology?
Do let us know.
You may contact us regarding your queries related to ruby on rails or other technologies, in case you need web development services. We will try to revert to you as soon as we can.
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