Hi, I have a small webdesign company and got to a point where I have a
small self made php based cms. I never liked php and that’s why i
started looking for something different. I 've started to learn a
little ruby and rails so i have some idea how it all looks like. My
question in basically whether to use php or ruby for my further
developing, and when with ruby shall i try making something of my own
or rather learn to use rafinery or radiant. Now I’m making simple and
moderately complicate websites with a bit of jquery and flash.
Eventually I want to have a cms to use for simple sites but flexible
enough to make something more complicated with some extra coding…
I’ll appreciate all your opinions.
I made the switch from PHP to Ruby about 2 years ago. It had its
headaches at first, but I’m happy I did. My main reason for moving to
ruby was the easibility of programming and how it reads out as a
language. But, even moreso, the object oriented facets that make up the
ruby gem are amazing at times.
As far as frameworks, Ruby on Rails is getting stronger now. With 3.1
comes the implementation of sass and coffee script. The new engines are
also pretty amazing and I’ve already started building a forum engine
that I can add to many different apps.
Even if you decide to go with Ruby and Ruby on Rails, you’ll still need
a solid foundation and knowledge of html, css, javascript, (jquery),
(insert your DB of choice), and I’d also recommend looking into JQMobile
for your mobile solution with Rails.
Just remember that PHP and Ruby are languages. Ruby on Rails is a
framework and can only be compared to other frameworks within PHP.
Don’t confuse the two.
You should also look into what type of server you will be deploying to
and I recommend Apache and Thin. Also look into deploying through
capistrano.
Take care.