FAQs seem to be a pretty commonly needed feature in a web application..
but it seems like there are no gems or plugins available for Rails.
Can you recommend a gem or plugin which provides FAQs to a Rails app?
Obviously you could make a simple FAQ very quickly with Rails, but there is much
more functionality that can be added: votes, search, categories, roles,
comments, markup, embedded links, tags, ... just to name a few.
Seems like people are re-inventing the wheel a lot for FAQs
I just published a gem for it.
https://github.com/railscash/how_to
Hope that helps, Its in development phase but we are using it actively. Your comments/feedback will be highly appreciated
I think either using BrowserCMS (http://browsercms.org) or RefineryCMS (http://refinerycms.com/) fits the bill for when you need more generic content pages. I prefer to just use a generic CMS instead of creating a gem/plugin for FAQS as you'll have other pages that could easily be thrown into a CMS engine as well. Saves developer time from having to update mostly static HTML pages.
Absolutely - Check out https://oraguide.com - Everything is streamlined / hosted in the cloud. It runs directly on the page as a floating div.
Related
I am completely new on Ruby On Rails and I already watched a long tutorial to start developing a small web application. In such a tutorial I could see several helpers for textboxes, textareas, dates, times, checkboxes, radiobuttons, comboboxes, and so on.
Where can I find other helpers like accordions, WYSIWYG editors (like an HTML editor), and others that can be bound to data from model and used in views? Maybe a toolbox for example.
I will very much appreciate your feedback.
Best regards.
What you're mostly talking about are Form Helpers. There are a bunch of other Rails Guides so I'd recommend reading through them and getting a better idea of what Rails does and can provide.
If you're not finding what you need in that documentation, you may need to add a 3rd party gem to your app's Gemfile, and follow the gem's documentation for getting it working. The Ruby Toolbox is a good place to start searching if you want to see which gems are most common.
And, of course, in the end you might not be able to find something that someone else already wrote and that solves your problem, in which case you will need to write it yourself. For front-end stuff you'll want to get up to speed on how to use HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
I'm running a rails app for interactive learning for kids. We also have quite a few static pages like, landing pages, team pages, case studies etc. This is also deployed in the same rails app.
I would like a easy way for my team to manage the content without depending on the tech team. I can build an admin interface to edit these pages, but I don't want to recreate a CMS. I checked out Jekyll but the markdown syntax makes some tech novices uneasy.
Someone suggested using weebly/ wordpress and host it in a subdomain. I don't want to go overboard and add an additional layer of maintenance to the app.
I've a mongoid project and would appreciate any mongoid gems.
RefineryCMS is a popular content management solution for Rails apps. You can add it to your existing Rails app, as described in the guide. RefineryCMS is targeted at the end user experience, you don't need extensive technological knowledge to use it.
There's an online demo of the CMS which you can find here. You don't have to edit the pages using Markdown, it has a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor as well.
If you're looking for another CMS, you can find other solutions quite easily with the Ruby Toolbox.
I need a very simple, backend visual representation of creating a blog post. Since the blog writers are not developers, I need something that can make blog posting easy. I know RedCloth is available but I'm looking for something more simple, but not a CMS since it infects my app and mutates it like no other.
I would recommend the ActiveAdmin gem.
Here is a free (very helpful) RailsCast that goes through the configuration and features of the gem.
ActiveAdmin should have no problem suiting your needs.
Check out the Comfy Blog project.
https://github.com/comfy/comfy-blog
ComfyBlog is an simple blog management engine for Rails 3.1 apps. It also integrates with ComfortableMexicanSofa CMS Engine. The nice thing about this project is that it doesn't interfere with your existing controllers, and "it's just Rails".
Some ruby gems like jekyll, toto and webby offer out of the box blog-type integration into your ruby app. Another way of developing a rich web blog-type application is to build and model the application yourself using pure ruby and rails practices. (e.g creating an Article and User model). The first offers out of the box features the 2nd option offers more customization and control.
In people's experience on Stack Overflow, which would be the best route and what would people consider when making the decision to use a gem out of the box versus going alone?
All of the gems you mentioned take static, markdown/textile/etc files and turn them into HTML websites. They take different approaches to it, with jekyll spitting out the finished website for hosting, toto doing the converting and routing on request, and webby doing the same as jekyll mostly.
If you're using Rails, it's important to note that none of these will integrate into your application well. They're built to more-or-less operate on their own.
Generally speaking, if a gem has the functionality you need, use it. They are not equivalent to plugins you find for Wordpress and Drupal where they are typically low-quality, buggy, poorly documented, etc. More often than not, gems simply add a couple modules that you can integrate into your application how you like.
On the other hand, a basic blog is pretty quick and simple in Rails, especially considering you've got a handy walkthrough guide straight from the Rails documentation on how to do it.
If you're new to Rails and want tight integration with your app, it's probably best to bake your own blog features.
This will take some time to do, but its worth it to learn how things really work.
If you're more seasoned, just look at the gem's API and documentation and decide if it does what you want it to do and if you're comfortable with how to integrate it. If so, it'll save you time.
One other consideration: who will be using the blog? Is it for internal use, and programmers will be the ones updating it? If that's the case, then you can make it very easy by not worrying about a lot of aesthetic polish in the back-end. Conversely, if you're making an app that includes a blogging component for the general public you might want it to feel more polished. In this case a gem might save you a lot of time.
It depends on your application.
I'm looking for a Rails plugin that eases the development of a "friends" system or social networking system for the latest versions of Ruby on Rails.
Before anyone says it...I know, I should probably create it myself, from scratch. And I am fully capable of this (I think). I'm just looking for a good plugin that can a.) make life a bit easier for me and b.) give me some ideas for reference.
I tried to make my own authentication system, and did what I thought was okay, but then I switched to restful_authentication and realized how poor my system was in comparison.
Thanks in advance...
U might wanna try Community Engine
from the website
CommunityEngine is a free, open-source
social network plugin for Ruby on
Rails applications. Drop it into your
new or existing application, and
you’ll instantly have all the features
of a basic community site.
it uses engines, easy to change layouts or do modifications
real world example - http://www.weebabystuff.com/
another option I know is Insoshi as Chuck posted
updated : look at this blogpost http://jimneath.org/2008/04/25/building-a-social-network-site-in-rails/
-- Ed :) --
You could look into http://lovdbyless.com/
This is a free open-source Rails social networking app which should give you plenty of ideas and pointers.
Ronald
You HAVE to see this railscasts video.
try acts_as_network plugin
The only one I know of is Insoshi. I haven't used it myself, but it sounds like that's what you're looking for.
I would recommend using OpenID library for rails to handle authentication.
On top of what others have said, there's also acts_as_network. The bonus of this one is that it's a pure plugin (doesn't require engines). Not having to worry about engines is a huge plus. The downside, of course, is that it's not a full fledged social network. It's just a friending plugin for models.
You might want to checkout the Amistad gem. It looks pretty simple and it supports both Mongoid and Active Record.
For avatars i would use avatar and try will-paginate for pagination. other then that i love can_serach to make it alot easier to search in the database.
You should also look at the other gems by technoweenie. There is alot of great stuff there that can help you
I've just been researching this myself and chosen to go with Bort & CommunityEngine
Bort because I am familiar with it already and it provides all you need in user authentication and basic application functionality. Community Engine because it is an Engines based plugin and some aspects of Engines are being merged into Rails 2.3 so I know what I learn will continue to be useful and because CommunityEngine seems more modular while lovedbyess and Insoshi seem more like complete applications and I suspect it would likely be more work to disentangle the features I want from the ones I don't. However, take that with a huge grain of salt since it is just based on high-level quick browse initial impressions.
If you just want an activity feed then there is the activity streams plugin