The Long Tail of Web Apps

My colleague Kiran Dandekar has been doing something I've been doing lately: working with Ruby on Rails applications in the same way others work with PowerPoint, Visio, or Rational Rose. There's often a need to "sketch out" a web service, build some "wireframes" or "workflow diagrams" as a means to think through architectural and other issues, and also as a way to socialize the idea across the team. There are any number of tools available to facilitate this process, but Ruby on Rails is unique in its approach to sketching out a web application: build the web app itself.

I'll spare you the sermon on Rails; if you've tried it out, you don't need any convincing from me (and if you have been bitten by the Rails bug you aren't wasting time reading my blog, you're building web apps). If you're not familiar with Ruby on Rails, I'll just say this: Rails makes building basic, solid, functional web apps easier and quicker than anything else I've ever seen. By a long shot.