# Intranet applications **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [October 28, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998 "2008-10-28T20:51:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/soderic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998/1 "2008-10-28T20:51:54Z")
Hello, I am getting ready to start building an intranet for a small company i work for. I have a question about the general architecture of such a thing. the intranet itself will contain multiple applications for various departments. what i am trying to figure out is if i should start by making each application as a seperate rails project or attempt to design it from the top down, all in one project. I have a feeling i am not being very clear here so please feel free to ask questions, also alot of details are murky as i am just starting this. ---
**Author:** ![soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/soderic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998/2 "2008-10-28T20:56:40Z")
On Oct 28, 7:51 pm, Eric S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hello, > > I am getting ready to start building an intranet for a small company i > work for. I have a question about the general architecture of such a > thing. the intranet itself will contain multiple applications for > various departments. what i am trying to figure out is if i should start > by making each application as a seperate rails project or attempt to > design it from the top down, all in one project. I have a feeling i am > not being very clear here so please feel free to ask questions, also > alot of details are murky as i am just starting this. Broadly speaking I’m on the side of multiple smaller rails apps than one huge one. Easier to write, easier to maintain. The answer also depends to an extent on what levels of interaction you need between the apps. Fred ---
**Author:** ![soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/soderic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998/3 "2008-10-28T21:06:19Z")
Frederick C. wrote: > On Oct 28, 7:51�pm, Eric S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > > Broadly speaking I’m on the side of multiple smaller rails apps than > one huge one. Easier to write, easier to maintain. The answer also > depends to an extent on what levels of interaction you need between > the apps. > > Fred Would you just link them together with generic html links into there respective controllers? or is there a way to link them together with rails? my generic plan atm is to have a main page with our logo and a navigation bar for each department, then under that a feed aggrigator with industry news in it. ``` logo finance hr it sales etc ``` industry feed industry feed local weather asci doesn’t do many things justice each department listed above will have a dropdown menu with a few items in it that would be the applications. this part will also obviously be a rails app ---
**Author:** ![soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/soderic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998/4 "2008-10-28T21:17:19Z")
Frederick C. wrote: > pretty much just generic stuff. > > Fred Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/soderic)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998/5 "2008-10-29T16:31:02Z")
Eric S. wrote: > Hello, > > I am getting ready to start building an intranet for a small company i > work for. I have a question about the general architecture of such a > thing. the intranet itself will contain multiple applications for > various departments. what i am trying to figure out is if i should start > by making each application as a seperate rails project or attempt to > design it from the top down, all in one project. I have a feeling i am > not being very clear here so please feel free to ask questions, also > alot of details are murky as i am just starting this. I would do one app and write each sub-application as a plugin. That will make the whole thing very re-usable. ---
**Author:** ![soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@soderic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/soderic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/intranet-applications/151998/6 "2008-10-28T21:14:19Z")
On 28 Oct 2008, at 20:06, Eric S. wrote: > Would you just link them together with generic html links into there > respective controllers? or is there a way to link them together with > rails? pretty much just generic stuff. Fred