# Is textilize bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141 "2006-11-16T08:25:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/1 "2006-11-16T08:25:37Z")
Hi, I’m reading “Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce”. On page 398, it says: Caution: Although textilize is a cool quick-and-dirty helper, as a rule of thumb, it should never be used in a production setting. What’s wrong with textilize? What’s a better alternative? Thanks. Sam ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/2 "2006-11-16T09:41:00Z")
I don’t know, since I don’t have that book. I am guessing its something to do with security. I have been using it in production since like ages and its pretty helpful rather ‘never used’. ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/3 "2006-11-16T13:25:37Z")
Problems with textilize? Thats a new one for me. ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/4 "2006-11-16T17:04:33Z")
> I’m reading “Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce”. > On page 398, it says: > > Caution: Although textilize is a cool quick-and-dirty helper, as a rule > of thumb, it should never be used in a production setting. > > What’s wrong with textilize? > What’s a better alternative? I haven’t used it myself, but textile is redcloth… and I seem to remember a thread awhile back (not even sure it was this group) about redcloth vs bluecloth and speed issues… So maybe textile is kind of slow? But again, I haven’t used it, so could be completely wrong. Search google for textile/redcloth/bluecloth for more… ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/5 "2006-11-16T17:24:37Z")
Philip H. wrote: > I haven’t used it myself, but textile is redcloth… and I seem to > remember a thread awhile back (not even sure it was this group) about > redcloth vs bluecloth and speed issues… So maybe textile is kind of > slow? > > But again, I haven’t used it, so could be completely wrong. Search google > for textile/redcloth/bluecloth for more… > > > I believe in this context the authors were saying that it was bad to use on text on each render. You are going to want to cache your pages and/or textilize the text as it goes into the db so you do not get a large speed hit on each page render. Matthew M. [blog.mattmargolis.net](http://blog.mattmargolis.net) ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/6 "2006-11-16T17:27:46Z")
Philip H. wrote: > I haven’t used it myself, but textile is redcloth… and I seem to > remember a thread awhile back (not even sure it was this group) about > redcloth vs bluecloth and speed issues… So maybe textile is kind of > slow? That rings a bell. One solution to the speed problem is to cache the textilized text int he database along with the original source. That way you only do the translation once after an edit, and the textilized version can be pulled from he DB when needed. This is a tactic I’d use for any formatting language used on a high-traffic site. Dougal. ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/7 "2006-11-16T20:32:31Z")
Douglas S. wrote: > That rings a bell. One solution to the speed problem is to cache the > textilized text int he database along with the original source. That way > you only do the translation once after an edit, and the textilized > version can be pulled from he DB when needed. This is a tactic I’d use > for any formatting language used on a high-traffic site. I’d say that fragment caching is probably a simpler performance-focused fix, rather than creating a more convoluted model. The big problem with textilize (and any user-generated HTML) is that you’re leaving your app open for cross-site-scripting attacks if you don’t sanitize the HTML it produces, both tags and attributes. My schtick about safe HTML is here: [http://www.kookdujour.com/blog/details/11](http://www.kookdujour.com/blog/details/11) And I wrote a pretty flexible helper method to ensure safe user-created HTML. -DJCP ---
**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-textilize-bad/76141/8 "2006-12-04T10:54:49Z")
Matthew M. wrote: > I believe in this context the authors were saying that it was bad to use > on text on each render. You are going to want to cache your pages > and/or textilize the text as it goes into the db so you do not get a > large speed hit on each page render. Bingo! The quote in the original post was part of a section called “Rendering Speed”. //jarkko – Jarkko L. > **[jlaine.net](https://jlaine.net/)** > > Your freedom to carry a gun messes with my freedom to walk around without fear. Your freedom to “stand your ground” with force is at odds with my … > **[Home](https://dotherightthing.com/)** > > do the right thing [http://www.railsecommerce.com](http://www.railsecommerce.com) [http://odesign.fi](http://odesign.fi)