Ruby on Rails... ANYONE?
In short, im a content guy with a content site. I've a custom built Ruby on Rails site, and have one professional re-design, both which cost me good money. Im basically pleased with the results, but the programmer that did the foundation design and structure building, as well as the redesign doesn't speak the same language as me, bottom line, and is not good at managing and coordinating timelines, and most importantly - paying attention to detail at the level i expect. Im former military, so my standards are pretty high in this regard.
Im even considering learning Ruby on Rails, and am doing some research to see how hard it would be, as doing so would allow me better control over all aspects of the sites and business' growth... But it's not something im particularly interested in, nor is it the best use of my time... It's more of a "out of frustration" and feeling like if i don't do it, no one else will do it right.
I know this is not an uncommon attitude, and is formed from experience, but still i'd love to find someone that proves me wrong. I know if i can find the right person who gets what im doing, knows their end, they'll see that IVE MUCH MORE THAN HANDLED MY END.
Im definitely not a programmer. I've learned some html, and can get around site admin stuff, can use templates and build minisites, can setup a wordpress blog, ive been using a template based program on the mac called rapidweaver for my personal site and other side project sites as well... But this is my business site, this is MY BABY! I've given it all the best, and from my knowledge and experience am prepared for substantial growth as we move into the coming phases with the upcoming launch of the 2.0 site & product. But their are still some features, functions, design tweaks, new header design, and structural question marks... These parts of the plan that require skills and expertise i do not have.
So, is it accurate to say/is this how the pieces of the bigger picture for programming with RoR come together...
I understand Ruby on Rails is an advanced but simplified, yet very effective programming language.
Just correct me whenever or wherever im wrong... This is how i learn.
It allows things that would take a lot of time to do with a language like php or javascript or whatever, a lot less time..
This is because the basic engineering is intelligent and allows you to set it up and then type things in that don't just represent something i.e <b> = bold or whatever, but it can actually answer questions... i.e. 4+2 = 6 etc.
In addition it is similar to say wordpress and rapidweaver for example, because you can just take "plugins" that are already created by someone, and easily add them.
This saves a significant amount of time, effort, and is just substantially more efficient.
Now, given that's all accurate, here's where the questions and confusion comes in...
How hard is it add these "plugins" called "Gems?"
How expensive is reasonable to pay/or how much time does it REALLY take for someone to add even major features, if i found a "gem" template/platform/structure i like that is open-source and free that i want to integrate in to my site?
Now in terms of managing the site design tweaks, a new header, some structural stuff...
I just dont know how/what is modifiable, i need a simplified way of understanding WHAT it takes to make a design tweek, add a feature, change the menu layout etc... So for someone who thinks like me, this is a problem.
Cuz that means i can go to 4 different people, with THE EXACT wireframe, the diagram of what i want it to look like, the page navigation and sales funnel from.. "you click this, and it takes you here, and then that takes you to this page.." and get a much different "Estimate" for how much that would cost.
If i had 10's of thousands to throw away/charge on a platinum corporate expense account, from a boss that said make this happen, i dont care the cost... Then it would be simple, and i wouldn't even care to know, what it was worth, or how much it costs.
But im bootstrapping, and i don't have money to waste.
So never mind that i don't understand how exactly to code that to actually make that appear... I don't even have a scope of the kind/amount of work involved..
Which leads me to finding the answer to this next question...
Is it like Ruby on rails is the computer, HTML is the specific software programs, and ruby gems are accelerated applications that you can plug right into enhance/modify the operating system?
Could you clarify this relationship?
If you are still with me, i greatly appreciate it, this is my first post around here, hopefully i can find what im looking for, or get some clarification to some questions that are kind of stalling my progress.
Best Regards,
Jamie
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