# EXTREME Newbie Qestion - Is RoR the right tool? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 10, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/extreme-newbie-qestion-is-ror-the-right-tool/79283 "2006-03-10T00:34:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@joep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joep)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/extreme-newbie-qestion-is-ror-the-right-tool/79283/1 "2006-03-10T00:34:20Z")
So, the question for you who are RoR Gurus: is RoR the way to go? Here’s the challenge… A community service site (application?) that includes: - Community Forum - Blog (kind of - more like an editoral comment section) - Weather Forecasts by locale - Road Conditions - real time weather data - Searchable, by category & locale, Business Directory - Live Camera feeds - Searchable, by category & locale, Things do Do & See - Searchable, by category & locale, Events Calendar - Very tightly integrated with Google Maps - All elements very tightly integrated with one another - Highly interactive / responsive (Ajax no doubt) I’m not looking for help with any of these specific elements. These are not separate pages (or Views) but elements available and emphasized to one degree or another in different Views. One of the directions I would like to head is that much of the View emphasis re-construction be done with JS on the client based on XML data made available in the background. I’ve built a site with many of these components (No Ajax, No background data loading) using hand written PHP / XHTML and Open Source scripts, but it’s becoming to unwieldy to maintain or modify. Also, integration with Google Maps will already require a re-write of many elements. I do not have a deadline (this is a quasi hobby someday to become a business) so I don’t mind taking the time to learn. I just don’t want to spend a lot of time learning only to find out that this is totally the wrong tool set. BTW, what is the difference between a web “site” and a web “application”? Thanks very much, and please forgive my ignorance. joe ---
**Author:** ![joep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@joep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joep)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/extreme-newbie-qestion-is-ror-the-right-tool/79283/2 "2006-03-10T04:11:01Z")
Hello Joe, 2006/3/9, Joe P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > I do not have a deadline (this is a quasi hobby someday to become a > business) so I don’t mind taking the time to learn. I just don’t want > to spend a lot of time learning only to find out that this is totally > the wrong tool set. Looking at your requirements, I believe Rails would work perfectly well. Rails handles Ajax very well, and provides some tools to help write the JavaScript. > BTW, what is the difference between a web “site” and a web > “application”? A site is pretty much static. If you have any dynamic content, then that becomes an application. At least, that’s my theory. > Thanks very much, and please forgive my ignorance. Ignorance is never a problem. Failure to combat ignorance is the problem 🙂 Bye ! ---
**Author:** ![joep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@joep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joep)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/extreme-newbie-qestion-is-ror-the-right-tool/79283/3 "2006-03-10T06:33:48Z")
François Beausoleil wrote: > A site is pretty much static. If you have any dynamic content, then > that becomes an application. At least, that’s my theory. > > > Thanks very much, and please forgive my ignorance. > > Ignorance is never a problem. Failure to combat ignorance is the > problem 🙂 > > Bye ! Thanks Francois! My “application” is very dynamic! The only element that is not updated as a function of time or user input is the editorial comment section, and even that should be more dynamic than it currently is (or eliminated). As far as the battle goes… I appear to be loosing. The more I learn the more I realize I don’t know and the older I get the less I remember of what I’ve learned. Thanks for the input. Joe P.S. I got my first RoR dynamic app runing today (Agile Web D. first exercise). I still have to figure out how to get Apache to run RoR as well as my existing PHP based site so I can develop the new while maintianing the old.