# Question of a newbie

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-of-a-newbie/154428>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 29, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-of-a-newbie/154428 "2008-11-29T13:20:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Techod](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@Techod](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Techod)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-of-a-newbie/154428/1 "2008-11-29T13:20:25Z")

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Hello all,  
My name is Hod and i have an idea of a website that i would like to  
create.  
I was checking joomla and Drupal but didnt get much help there, I hope  
ROR can help me and so i need your advise.  
Since i want to keep my site as secret as possible, i will not supply  
much information except for the must.

My idea is to have a site that users can upload documents to this site  
(free load)  
Then paying customers will have the permission to watch this  
documents.

For this i need;

- a web interface
- database that can manage the uploaded documents,
- database that can manage the paying customers
- query the above databases
- system that manages the transactions (paying customers to my  
account)

Does ROR can help me here?  
Maybe it is the wrong place to ask, i dont know.  
Any answer will be appriciated  
-Hod

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**Author:** ![Techod](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@Techod](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Techod)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-of-a-newbie/154428/2 "2008-11-30T16:36:19Z")

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Ruby on Rails could certainly handle the work you described. As could  
PHP, or any other web scripting language - so Joomla and Drupal could  
also do it. Your call, really.

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**Author:** ![Techod](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@Techod](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Techod)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-of-a-newbie/154428/3 "2008-11-30T19:55:10Z")

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A year ago I had a similar question… can Rails do this for me??..  
and the answer is a resounding yes… a year later I still haven’t  
started the actual project… I have learned how to use Joomla (which  
doesn’t really fit my requirements), and i’m getting more comfortable  
with Rails by the day, and i’m nearly ready to start now (just a few  
more sample apps should do it)… but it’s taken a lot of work and  
sacrifice… I wouldn’t suggest tackling it unless you’re comfortable  
with technical concepts (I have a degree in Electronic Engineering,  
and had a little experience with object oriented coding - which REALLY  
helps)…

What made me choose Rails??.. well, ultimately it was the experience  
it would give me, it was far more of a challenge than PHP would be to  
learn, but it would make me more employable than learning PHP would,  
and ultimately would make me a better programmer - which will come in  
handy if my brilliant idea doesn’t make me squillions of dollars 😉

Beware, learning it from scratch is not for the faint of heart - but  
if you have the bottle for it, give it a go, and best of luck to you

cheers