The best investments are those that keep giving over a long period of time. And, for the small and not-so-small businesses out there who are looking for the perfect tool to build their websites, the answer is RoR or Ruby on Rails. An artist of any kind needs the right set of tools. They are necessary but not only for performing the craft, though. The best set of tools give you the power of performing your craft even if the field of activity changes in nature. Ruby on Rails is one such versatile tool in the field of website development. The developers know why, but how does a businessperson get to know this? Simply by reading on.
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In this article, we will puzzle over why Ruby on Rails is exactly the kind of investment that will keep benefiting your business as time proceeds. The world of website development is highly dynamic. And, public services that you use every day pay rapt attention to the tech stack for their websites. Ruby on Rails is one framework that is used in a range of popular sites. It is a comprehensive tool with a lot of benefits for the development of new software.
Yes, to be able to make an informed decision, a businessperson must have some knowledge about the salient features of Ruby on Rails. And the idea can be daunting. But, you are in safe hands as we will begin with a fundamental definition of Ruby on Rails, try to understand why it is so influential in the field of web development, what are its advantages, and finally wrap it with the much-awaited list of top ten websites built on Ruby on Rails. You will be surprised to find a lot of familiar names, and get to know the giants of their industries that rely on Ruby on Rails for an optimum website. For the purpose of remaining concise, we would refer to the websites that are developed through Ruby on Rails, Ruby sites in the article.
Ruby on Rails (RoR): Definition and Application
Ruby on Rails (RoR) emerged in 2005 from the works of David Heinemeier Hansson on the project management tool Basecamp. Written in Ruby, a high-level, general-purpose programming language (which was designed and developed in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto in Japan), Rails is a server-side, multi-level MVC (Model-View-Controller) web application framework that builds web applications that use relational and NoSQL databases (like MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL). Ruby on Rails is patented under the MIT License. It provides default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages. Ruby on Rails’s primary function is to encourage and facilitate web standards like JSON or XML for data transfer and HTML CSS and JavaScript for user interfacing. It also emphasizes the usage of popular software engineering paradigms such as convention over configuration (CoC), don’t repeat yourself (DRY), and the active record pattern. Many of the most popular sites on the web today can be classified as Ruby sites, i.e., they have been developed via Ruby on Rails. We will read more about these Ruby sites in later sections.
Influence of RoR
Though MVCs today differ from Ruby on Rails, RoR still remains a pioneer in the area as it was among the first frameworks to separate the code into different directories such as model, view, and controller. Its emergence in 2005 greatly influenced web app development, accelerating the advancement of future web development tools. The framework of Ruby on Rails remains relevant even today, after seventeen years, because of its innovative and iconic features such as migrations, seamless database table creations, and scaffolding of views to enable rapid application development. Web frameworks in other languages have also inherited features from Ruby on Rails such as Django in Python, Catalyst in Perl, Laravel, CakePHP, and Yii in PHP, Grails in Groovy, Phoenix in Elixir, Play in Scala, and Sails.js in Node.js. The fact that these features, which first came in RoR, remain relevant and popular even today makes Ruby on Rails a very powerful tool in the creation of Ruby sites. Apart from that, other web development tools have similar foundational features like Ruby on Rails, including Django, Laravel, Yii framework, CakePHP, Sails.js, etc.
Usage of Ruby On Rails
Ruby on Rails is a multipurpose and open-source framework. It is suitable for developing websites that need to be high-performance and fault-tolerant. The versatile framework can also be used to develop any kind of web application: eCommerce platforms, content management systems (CMS), ERP systems, analytical platforms, social networks, etc. Today, the best of websites are developed via Ruby on Rails. Keep reading to find out about the ten most popular ruby sites.
Benefits of Ruby Sites: Why should your business have a website developed in Ruby on Rails?
So we know that Ruby on Rails is very popular even today. So are Ruby sites, the websites designed on RoR, so much so that the biggest players in the internet business with the most complex and extensive requirements have opted for Ruby sites over websites by other web and app development tools. Basically, Ruby cites rock. But, why? What differentiates other websites from Ruby sites? Why is Ruby on Rails more of a legitimate choice for developing web apps and websites than others? Here is a list of advantages that you get if you have Ruby sites and applications:
Ruby sites are friendly to your budget with no loss of efficiency.
One of the major advantages of choosing Ruby sites or apps over those developed via other tools is cost-effectiveness. The Ruby on Rails framework is 100% free, open-sourced, and available on the internet. It runs on Linux, which again is an open-source framework. From a developer’s perspective, developing Ruby sites is easier as the framework comes with tons of plug-ins, saving the developer a lot of time and effort. Once done, Ruby sites are easier to maintain without shelling out more money from your budget. Even with their monetary ease, Ruby sites ensure greater quality, performance, or scalability.
Time is on your side with Ruby sites.
Ruby on Rails comes with a number of plugins and modules. This makes the development process easier for the developers. This also reduces the development time as the developers do not have to look anywhere for these plugins. The RoR developers can develop Ruby sites approximately 30% faster than if they would have used any other framework.
Ruby sites are built on Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture.
Websites and applications, like Ruby sites, that work on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture have three interconnected layers. The codes that work on the application data are housed in the model which also centralizes the business logic of the application. The model also centralizes the rules to manipulate the data to the users, which includes HTML, PDF, XML, RSS, and other formats. The job of maintaining the communication between the model and the view belongs to the controller, which receives a request from the browser and works with models to process it. It then instructs the view on how to display the result to the user correctly. Ruby on Rails was the pioneer of this model, and even today, Ruby sites utilize it.
This manner of dividing the back end of the web application into three main components allows the developer to code in a manageable way, reducing development time and errors. Ruby on Rails essentially is responsible for generating responses to client’s requests and sending those responses to the client. It is done via three sections: the model, the controller, and the view. The commands are sent by the controller to the model, the model performs business logic on it and sends the result to the controller, the controller then sends to the view. The view then displays the result to the users. This way, when you want to change the interface, you just have to make the changes in the view part and there is no need to even touch the controller and the model part of the web application.
Convention over configuration and ‘don’t repeat yourself’ (DRY).
‘Convention over configuration’ technically points towards the reduction in complexity of web development. For example, if there is a table named services in the database, Ruby on Rails will create any other table related to the table named service by itself. This gives a lot of freedom to the developers who can then develop a large number of configuration files.
In software and web development, the ‘don’t repeat yourself’ (DRY) concept states that a piece of code must be written only once in the coding file by the developer. Ruby on Rails followers the ‘don’t repeat yourself’ (DRY) concept. And following this concept ensures that the code can be maintained easily and will have a lesser number of bugs.
Ruby sites provide more significant avenues for adaptability.
Ruby sites are very easy to modify even after they have been developed and deployed. Since the framework of Ruby sites is the most effective one out there for long-term projects, making changes later on is not a difficult task. Even if you have to modify the existing code or add new ones, Rails sites continue to function stably and predictably. No nasty surprises await you even when you make significant changes to your data model.
Ruby sites for businesses allow scalability.
Businesses that are looking to scale need Ruby sites. For the same reason, many websites that are growing exponentially right now have Ruby on Rails for the back-end part. The scalability features in Ruby on Rails allow the Ruby sites to function efficiently even while scaling fast. They maintain steady functionality in addition to scalability.
No security concerns with RoR.
Businesses opting for Ruby sites need not worry about security issues at all. The Ruby on Rails framework is extremely stoic in the face of data attacks. It comes armed with in-built features that are enabled by default. The framework provides many vital security features like SQL-injections and XSS attacks and helps create secure web applications and avoid malware threats.
Ruby sites perform better.
As Ruby sites evolve with an evolving user base, SQL injections must undertake a lot of computation and data handling. This can slow the Ruby site’s website or application down. But, this can be easily tackled with Ruby sites via code optimization. This can significantly improve the performance outcomes of Ruby sites.
Ruby for sites is more productive.
Ruby on Rails has garnered a reputation for being one of the most productive languages around. But what does that mean? Productivity for a programming language refers to the ability to develop a variety of features very fast. And Ruby on Rails does exactly that. When combined with third-party libraries, the concise language allows you to develop features quickly. And these libraries can be installed via the tool Ruby Gems.
Consistency is the key.
Ruby on Rails developers follow standard conventions. The file storage and programming regulations are clearly laid out, structured, and readable. When businesses demand Ruby sites, this consistent mode of working saves a lot of development time.
Ruby sites get a large community.
Ruby is popular, and the community of Ruby developers is very large and active. They are constantly working to spot and patch any irregularities and vulnerabilities in the framework. The code is continuously being worked upon and improved, and all of this is documented officially and unofficially. This means that businesses going for Ruby sites will never have a dearth of people who can help manage any roadblocks in that domain.
A large repository of free plugins.
A big advantage of developing Ruby sites for businesses is the abundance of free plugins. Referred to as gems, with the help of these plugins, Ruby sites become easily customizable according to the needs of the business. Ruby sites utilize these plugins to do a lot of different things, for example, introducing advanced e-commerce services keeping in mind the high levels of user data protection required. With this large repository for plugins, businesses with Ruby sites can also deploy their own exclusive social network.
Top 10 Websites Built With Ruby On Rails: Ruby Sites That Rule Their Industries
Ruby on Rails is popular: the US has the most number of Ruby sites, almost around 27000 followed by India, with 23000 Ruby sites. It is ranked by the internet community as the third-best in the programming language category. The language is the foundation of complex and heavy traffic hosting websites from all kinds of industries and for all types of business models. Hospitality, video on demand, eCommerce platforms, social media, gaming, programming, and a lot of other industries host Ruby sites. As the language is versatile it allows a smooth transition when in collaboration with other languages, as do a lot of companies. But, many businesses that have full-fledged built-on Ruby on Rails sites also have the responsibility of handling the whole website. Read below to find out which of your favorite brands have Ruby sites.
Airbnb: Traffic and Secure Payments
Founded in 2008 in California, Airbnb is one of the most popular Ruby sites. It is a service that makes it possible for anyone to rent an apartment or room worldwide. An easy traveler’s dream comes true; the beauty of Airbnb lies in the fact that no mediators are engaged in the process, no realtors, no brokers. Here, the hosts or the landlords offer the rent if they have a vacant room or apartment available, so it is not a real estate service. Revolutionizing travel in one disruptive sweep, Airbnb gained popularity very quickly. Today it is one of the most extensive lodging online marketplaces globally, operating in 200 countries, with two million people staying with Airbnb each night in October 2019. Apart from being famous for its UI/UX, the website has successfully managed to deal with the two giant forces and continues to do so daily: traffic and secure payments. Websites like Airbnb cannot afford to crumble beneath the weight of millions of users logged in each day and making international transactions. It is all made possible by Ruby on Rails.
The Airbnb website utilizes Ruby on Rails for most of its tech stack and some other frameworks like React.js. The highly comprehensive and flexible framework of RoR contributes to the performance and solid functionality of the website, turning it from a small start-up into an online hospitality empire. It allowed the company to reduce costs and the time to market, speed up the development, and handle the giant forces of online traffic and secure transactions.
GitHub: Scale Up The Hosting
GitHub, the name is a combination of two words, Git and Hub. Created by a Linux founder, Linus Torvalds, Git is a version control system that helps developers control, modify, and improve the versions of code they write. Hub, on the other hand, simply means a repository where the open-source code from a wide range of projects is stored. GitHub Inc., then, is a company that uses Git to facilitate development and version control, render the source code management (SCM), and distributed version control functionality of Git. It is a community of over 40 million developers from around the world that avail the access control and a range of collaborative characteristics like project management, wikis for individual projects, bug tracking, and feature requests from Github. For GitHub to function with flawless hosting day after day, Ruby on Rails takes the load. With the kind of active user base GitHub has and more than 100 million repositories, it is the biggest host in the world. Considered widely as one of the classic instances of Ruby on Rails, as the GitHub service was built right from scratch with Ruby on Rails, the framework has remained the company’s foundation till now. It is evolving continuously to undertake the rising demand, birthing a complex structure in the process; GitHub, as one of the oldest Ruby sites, has thrived because of the versatility of Ruby on Rails that made it easy to allow a diverse tech stack to be deployed.
Shopify: eCommerce Made Easy
Shopify is a Canadian conglomerate and a leading eCommerce platform. It allows entrepreneurs to create their online stores to sell their merchandise without requiring any major technical skills and with minimal investments involved. Founded in 2004 by three people, the platform today hosts 600,000 online retailers — all of this made possible by Ruby on Rails.
But Shopify does much more than just be a platform that connects vendors and buyers. It facilitates online shops, acts as the point of sale system to trade goods online, offers shipping, marketing, payments, and buyer engagement tools. Thereby, Shopify makes all the functions of an online business simpler so that anyone can become an online retailer. The company has consistently extended its back-end systems to support its millions of active users that are busy crafting their own business. This is made possible only via the robust scalability features in Ruby on Rails and the fascinating range of eCommerce features it offers. Today, Shopify flaunts almost 1,000,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries that function via the website. Another one of the long list of Ruby sites, Shopify’s gross retail volume exceeds $41.1 billion.
Dribbble: Self-Promotion with Ruby on Rails
Dribbble is an online service, one of the largest Ruby sites that facilitates networking between graphic designers, web designers, illustrators, motion designers, and clients who want to hire them. Users can use Dribble to promote their work in the community of digital designers and creatives. It serves as a design portfolio platform and functions as a recruitment website or simply a social media website where artists can come and publish their work, witness and discuss other artists’ work,and create and promote their portfolios. Dribble, like other Ruby sites, started small but has about five million active users today. A fact that is worth noting here is about security. Only users with Pro accounts on Drubble can send an invite to another designer for them to be able to publish their work on Dribble. It is an added privacy or safety feature to control the quality of the people who join in.
Twitter: Social Interaction Via Smartphones
Two really important advantages that Ruby sites have are time-saving and the ability to handle massive online traffic. And social media is where the online traffic is the most massive, relentless, and, let us just say it, unforgiving. People use it the most, each day, every day. With Twitter, people share small notes called “tweets” and are able to interact with tweets of other people who they follow. Twitter was built very quickly, thereby saving a lot of time to market, as well as development funds. The American microblogging and social networking service can be accessed on all devices, but it is most popular in the mobile device application software or app format. Ruby sites work extremely well on phones. For this reason, they make a strong back-end choice for a social networking business of any kind as people prefer to perform their social networking via phones.
Kickstarter: Versatility is The Key in Ruby Sites
For anyone who seeks to fund a dream, this is the place. Ruby sites are well known to be the best partners for corporations that have a versatile plan. Kickstarter allows you to get finances for projects of all kinds, scientific, creative, and innovative, anything. Well-known products like Pebble Time and Oculus Rift were funded through Brooklyn-based public benefit corporation Kickstarter. The rage around the corporation, its huge popularity can be seen in its numbers. As of July 2021, Kickstarter is funding over two hundred thousand projects, backed by twenty million backers. The total funding amounts to nearly six billion dollars.
The projects range from films, culinary art, technology, writing and publishing, journalism, music, stage shows, comics, video games, and more. The model of Kickstarter traces its roots to the art patronage model of subscription. This model allows the artists to directly be funded by the audience. In Kickstarter, there are tangible rewards for the backers in exchange for their pledges on projects. With so much going on, Kickstarter made the perfect choice of being developed using Ruby on Rails. The trademark of excellent Ruby sites is able to handle complex and varied kinds of business models like Kickstarter.
Hulu: Creating An Enormous Video Library
The best is utilized out of ruby sites simply because of the immense scale and complexity of the services they provide. Netflix is the biggest player when it comes to being a monstrous library of video content in many languages, and Netflix is also one of the Ruby sites. But, Hulu, founded in 2007, is more than just a contending video-on-demand service made on Ruby on Rails. Hulu offers more non-movie content like TV series and clips from a wide range of networks. It also focuses on making the newer television content available. Though present only in the US so far, Hulu’s popularity is rising rapidly with each new show that comes up on the platform. Today it has over 30.4 million subscribers. To cope with the ever-changing dynamics of the online video industry, Rails was found to be the best framework for Hulu, which will allow it to have uninterrupted functionality and to be able to offer easy navigation and an enormous library to its users.
Twitch: Handling Vast Server Loads
The American video game live streaming service, Twitch, has around fifteen million users every day. The users spend hours on it playing games, day after day, without interruption or glitches. How does the website handle so much traffic? You’ve got it: it is Ruby on Rails. The framework helps deal with the vast server load that comes with the traffic and usage. Also, the Ruby on Rails framework also helps the developing team keep making changes in the back-end faster. As a video-on-demand service, it is very important that the performance of the website is flawless from hosting to payments. Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc, also offers broadcasts of esports competitions, music broadcasts, creative content, and more.
SlideShare: Catering to a Large Audience
Founded in October 2006, SlideShare is an American hosting service that allows users to upload professional content such as presentations, infographics, documents, and videos. The users can upload them over the website, as well as browse through the available ones for research work. The main focus of the company is presentations that make business owners and students its target audience. Earlier, SlideShare was acquired by LinkedIn, and then Scribd bought it. It is similar to being like YouTube for presentations because SlideShare gets an estimated eighty million unique visitors per month. And such a vast load of traffic can be managed very easily if your businesses have Ruby sites like SlideShare.
UrbanDictionary: Managing Growth with Ruby Sites
Urban Dictionary was created to cater to the need for meanings of more colloquial words and phrases, slang, cultural jargon, and such that did not appear in standard dictionaries. The motto was “define your world,” and following that, today, the RoR-backed and crowdfunded website has grown to invite definitions of any words, event, phrase, abbreviations, and more. With a rate of two thousand new entries each day, Urban Dictionary is a place where one can find the definition, meaning, usage, examples for almost any word in English, with a total of over seven million unique ones in 2014.
With such excessive traffic coming in every day, and its server load, growing websites require more robust frameworks. And this traffic keeps on increasing every year. Ruby sites such as Urban dictionary handle this growth very well. If you have a business in mind that is waiting to grow, having one of the Ruby sites to promote it would be a great investment. Ruby sites guarantee smooth and efficient management of the traffic that allows the business to grow without any technical failures hindering its progress. Ready with Ruby sites, companies can grow and enjoy their increasing returns without worrying about anything.
Ruby on Rails at Cadabra Studio
At Cadabra Studio, we always use the Ruby language and RoR framework to develop the back-end part of web applications. Apart from development speed and cost-efficiency, we need to meet our clients’ expectations and adhere to quality standards. So our Ruby developers are always on duty.
Do you think that your project is too complex? Cadabra Studio can deal with any software complexity level. Contact us to solve your problem.
Do you need a project that is created following all the necessary criteria of supreme quality? Mind to use Ruby language and RoR framework. Your business website will be economic, will be developed quickly, and allow you to scale up easily in the future. In addition, your website will take less development time! Get in touch with us to share the details of your project — save your time and money.
