# Zafu, a new templating language for Rails: needs testers

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zafu-a-new-templating-language-for-rails-needs-testers/179248>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 20, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zafu-a-new-templating-language-for-rails-needs-testers/179248 "2009-11-20T13:14:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gazoduc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@gazoduc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gazoduc)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zafu-a-new-templating-language-for-rails-needs-testers/179248/1 "2009-11-20T13:14:05Z")

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Hi list !

I am extracting zafu from zena and would be very glad to have some  
feedback on the templating language as early as possible in the process.

If you are interested, I prepared a simple rails app using some zafu  
templates:

[http://bit.ly/3zb5wR](http://bit.ly/3zb5wR)

clone it, run “rake db:reset”, “script/server” and open  
“[http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000)”. You should see the welcome page rendered with a  
zafu template.

Two words on zafu:

The idea behind zafu is to fill the gap between the web designers  
(writing html templates) and the ruby coders (writing ruby) and avoid  
the strong coupling between the two roles when using ERB. It also  
enables “unsafe” users to write templates without risk (uses RubyLess).

The version of zafu in the demo is very minimal (no partial generation  
for ajax, no include). These features will be extracted from zena once  
the basic design is good enough.

Many thanks in advance for any feedback.

Gaspard

PS: if you think Rails doesn’t need such a templating language, just  
ignore this message. I am not interested in ideological flames.