<p>Ruby’s main focus, on simplicity and productivity, makes it a language ideally suited to modern application development. Even at almost 30 years old, it’s both packed full of modern features and equipped with a robust system that developers have come to rely on.</p><p>The most common way developers use Ruby today is to build highly dependable web apps at scale. Key features of the language—its efficiency, scalability, and cost-effective safety in particular—make it a choice ideally suited to e-commerce marketplaces.</p><p>If you are in need of a Ruby development team, we can help you with selecting the right company, just <a href="/smart-brief"><u>tell us what you need</u></a>. We can do the work for you and connect you with up to 5 companies within 72h that match your need- all for free.</p><p>Kickstarter, Shopify, Github, and Twitch all utilise Ruby to deliver critical services at scale with maximum uptime. Achieving these goals means augmenting the language with the right framework for the right task and the right project. Done well, it’s something that will make light work of developing, testing, and delivering such services at the scale they require.</p><h2>Frameworks vs Microframeworks</h2><p>The decision over which framework to use to break ground on a new project can be daunting. It’s one that will influence the project for its entire duration and shape the way it develops right from day one.</p><p>Ruby development frameworks fall into two primary camps: frameworks, and microframeworks.</p><p>A microframework will allow you to fully customise every aspect of your application, even when each of an application’s individual components are built using two or more frameworks. A microframework, or a combination of complimenting frameworks, can provide a potentially more optimal solution over handling everything with one solution.</p><p>However, the overhead involved in integrating, maintaining, and developing a solution across multiple smaller frameworks can add additional costs too. Costs that, over the lifetime of an application or service, can add up to significant increase in the required investment.</p><p>There are, of course, no assurances that multiple smaller microframeworks will play well together in the way a single monolithic framework guarantees.</p><p>Choosing the solution to fit the project, and not the project to fit the solution is key to future success with Ruby design and development. It’s also a difficult task requiring technical experience, know-how, and careful evaluation of the available tools.</p><p>Part of making this right choice for your project is deciding what is the right approach to building your Ruby development team. Read our article on <a href="/hr-ruby-development-resources/freelancer-or-outsourced/"><u>whether you should hire a freelance Ruby developer or a development team</u></a> for more insight on this topic.</p><h2>Ruby on Rails</h2><p>Ruby on Rails, often referred to as just “Rails”, is the go-to solution when developers think of Ruby-based projects. Of the Ruby-based services mentioned—every one of them uses Ruby on Rails to deliver their products.</p><p>Over 15 years since its first release, the maturity of Ruby on rails lends the framework to inherent stability and a large pool of expert developers to draw on. Features that make for producing a highly cost-effective and efficient Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that can be extended later to a vast scale.</p><p>Rails is perhaps best known for its “convention over configuration” approach to application development. For developers, this means very little initial setup in it’s “out of the box” approach, with the framework favouring sensible defaults over painstaking explicit configuration.</p><p>An approach championed by rails since its earliest days, it’s one that has begun to spread to other web-based frameworks such as Angular in recent years.</p><p>Despite the longevity and immense popularity of Rails over the last 15 years or so, there are several reasons why developers may favour an alternate approach to application development. Some drawbacks often cited by developers seeking alternate solutions include:</p><ul><li><i>Runtime speed</i>. Rails is often thought to be lacking performance in benchmark tests, particularly in comparison to more modern frameworks such as Node.JS or GoLang. In real-world applications, this is unlikely to provide a bottleneck to services until reaching the exceptionally large scales of social media or gaming platforms.</li><li><i>Boot speed</i>. Developers have many frustrations with Rails over the time it can take to start. Depending on the number of dependencies and files, it’s a problem that can grow to significantly hamper development efforts unless there is a conscious effort to address the issue.</li><li><i>Documentation</i>. One of the weaker elements of the framework, it can be difficult to find quality documentation for Rails. A problem that becomes particularly noticeable in less popular libraries.</li><li><i>Multithreading</i>. While Rails supports multithreading, some of its supporting libraries do not. In practice, this can result in real-world performance issues likely to have a noticeable impact.</li></ul><h2>Hanami</h2><p>Hanami describes itself as “a modern web framework for Ruby”. The framework, renamed from Lotus a few years ago, features a few more modern tools and ideas over its Lotus iterations.</p><p>Unlike rails, Hanami encourages building applications from multiple modular sub-components. These modules, a core feature of the modern framework, can be used even independently of the wider framework.</p><p>Hanami’s advantages include faster response times, optimised performance, and claims 60% less memory use than comparable full-featured Ruby frameworks. Advantages that are hard to pass up as an application developer. It’s also notably less restrictive than Rails—allowing developers extra degrees of freedom.</p><p>The Hanami framework is designed with Robert C Martin’s Clean Architecture very firmly in mind. It assumes any number of active apps will reside within the same codebase.</p><p>The web app, the most commonly used in the framework, is generated automatically. The rest, apps that will deliver functionality to the user, are left for developers to implement themselves.</p><p>Hanami’s most notable departure from Ruby on Rails comes from the way it implements MVC design. Splitting the functionality of the model class to separate a model’s behaviour from its state—the framework mimics some more modern design patterns without departing too far from the foundations of conventional Ruby frameworks.</p><p>For developers looking to break with the standard Rails approach but stick with a fully-fledged framework design, Hanami is worth closer consideration.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="https://pangea--prod.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/cms/uploads/assets/medium_frameworks_ruby_9a293efbb9.webp" alt="Ruby’s main focus, on simplicity and productivity, makes it a language ideally suited to modern application development. Even at almost 30 years old, it’s both packed full of modern features and equipped with a robust system that developers have come to rely on."></p><h2>Sinatra</h2><p>Sinatra is the first framework on our list that could be more accurately described as a microframework. Exceptionally lightweight, with a small footprint, and flexible in application, it’s an ideal starting point for many services and applications.</p><p>Like both Rails and Hanami above, Sinatra leverages the rack web server interface to deliver web services. Rack is so widely adopted amongst Ruby frameworks precisely because it provides the ideal minimal, modular, and adaptable web application interface.</p><p>Unusually, amongst Ruby frameworks, Sinatra doesn’t follow a conventional MVC pattern in its design. Instead, it provides the developer with a domain-specific language (DSL) that they can define their own rules for. This has allowed Sinatra to be used as a core component of many related Ruby frameworks too.</p><p>Sinatra provides an ideal starting point for a wide range of applications belonging to both enterprise users and startup firms. Its lightweight and highly functional capabilities provide the minimum viable functionality to begin construction on and create a platform that developers could migrate to fuller-featured frameworks in the future.</p><h2>Padrino</h2><p>While deserving of its own status as a fully-fledged framework, Padrino can also be thought of as a natural extension to Sinatra. Using the smaller microframework at its core, Padrino extends the functionality of Sinatra into a more well-rounded full-framework platform for building advanced web applications.</p><p>Padrino builds on the ethos set by Sinatra by maintaining a small footprint, high-speed, and lightweight design. The modernised framework aims to maintain these qualities while extending the available functionality.</p><p>Perhaps the main selling point of Padrino is its application-agnostic design. The framework isn’t bundled with libraries to facilitate testing, mock components, or specific features by default. Instead, it allows the developer to bring their own requirements and preferences to the project from day one.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="https://pangea--prod.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/cms/uploads/assets/medium_frameworks_ruby_05163bae9e.webp" alt="Ruby’s main focus, on simplicity and productivity, makes it a language ideally suited to modern application development. Even at almost 30 years old, it’s both packed full of modern features and equipped with a robust system that developers have come to rely on."></p><h2>Grape</h2><p>Another Ruby microframework, Grape is focused on creating REST APIs in Ruby. Like Rails, Hanami, and Sinatra, Grape runs on Rack to stand as a service on its own. Grape can also be used alongside these existing frameworks to create RESTful APIs.</p><p>Grape is one of the youngest Ruby frameworks in use. Its impact, in such a short time, has been more than notable. It’s already favoured by <a href="https://about.gitlab.com/"><u>Gitlab</u></a> to deliver critical web services to developers.</p><p>Designed to be a very structured framework, i.e., encourage developers to achieve goals in a specific way, it’s certainly one to watch in the future and perhaps worth further investigation for upcoming projects today.</p><p>If you are keeping up to date with Grape and want to know more on the direction Ruby is taking, we recommend our article on <a href="/ruby-development-resources/future-of-ruby-development/"><u>the future of Ruby development</u></a>.</p><h2>Alternate Ruby Frameworks</h2><p>When asked to think about frameworks to support Ruby development, it can be hard to look past Rails as the default option. Rails is, however, the go-to solution for some very good reasons. Rails is renowned for being a highly capable, well-supported, and well-appreciated framework for web application development.</p><p>If you are looking to develop your own Ruby on Rails project, we have you covered: just <a href="/smart-brief"><u>tell us what you need</u></a>. We can do the work for you and connect you with up to 5 companies within 72h that match your need- all for free.</p><p>There are cases where developers may want an alternate option, however. Whether pursuing new skills, seeking features that Rails can’t currently support, or making changes and additions to the platform—it pays to keep an eye on some of the options out there.</p><p>Often overlooked and undersold, the non-Rails frameworks mentioned here are themselves highly capable and more than suitable for many of your next projects.</p><p>Used instead of, or in conjunction with rails, and under the guidance of the right application development team—they can make the difference that ensures your applications are scalable, feature-rich, and highly dependable.</p>

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<p>Many companies are looking to design a new or redesign a website for their business. Unfortunately, many of them struggle with the process as they don't know where or how to start it.</p><p>Partnering with the right website design company can lead to excellent results, as the new website can become a powerful marketing and sales tool for your business. With so many website design companies out there, it's perfectly understandable that many businesses have trouble finding the right one. However, hiring the perfect fit doesn't have to be complicated — if you know where to look.</p><h2>How To Choose the Right Type of Web Design Vendor?</h2><p><a href="https://moradcreative.com/post/41/Freelancer-vs-Agency-Which-is-Better-for-Web-Design"><u>Not all vendors are created equal</u></a>. To ensure you're looking for the partner on the right website, you first need to determine what kind of vendor you are looking for, as not all of them will be able to satisfy your specific needs. The best way to do that is to try and match your objectives with the vendor's skills and capabilities.</p><p><a href="/hr-web-development-resources/freelancer-or-outsourced/"><u>Freelancers</u></a> are great for smaller businesses as they're usually cheaper, more flexible, and more likely to have specialized skills. On the other hand, a website design company may be the better choice if you're looking for a more credible vendor with diverse expertise and more resources.</p><p>Depending on your specific needs, one or more of the following ten websites can help you find the right vendor for your next project.</p><h2>1. Pangea.ai</h2><p>If you want to get tailored suggestions for a website design company, a vetting platform like ours is a great place to start. <a href="https://pangea.ai"><u>Pangea.ai</u></a> is the leading platform that helps businesses like yours hire the top percentile of remote design and engineering companies.</p><p>Whether you want to build a digital product — such as a website — or to hire for a specific role, e.g., a web designer or <a href="/services/web-development/"><u>web developer</u></a>, we've got you covered. Let us know <a href="/smart-brief"><u>what you need</u></a>, and we’ll find up to five companies that fit your brief and send them through in 72 hours. Each company on our platform is verified through a 6-week organizational process of due diligence, meaning you choose only from the best companies. In addition to picking a vendor, you can also launch a contest and get tailored applications straight from our community.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://pangea--prod.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/cms/uploads/assets/medium_2911_c305177f83.webp" alt="astronaut in space"></figure><h2>2. Upwork</h2><p>If you're keen on going with a freelancer, <a href="https://www.upwork.com/"><u>Upwork</u></a> may be a better choice. Upwork is an online portal that helps all types of freelancers, including web designers, find their next gig, communicate with their clients, and get paid.</p><p>Freelancers set their profiles and, if approved, create proposals for the clients who have posted jobs on the platform. You as the client can check the candidate's profiles, reviews, and portfolios before you decide whether to interview or <a href="/hr-web-development-resources/job-description/"><u>hire them</u></a>. Upwork also has a <a href="https://www.upwork.com/services/"><u>Project Catalog</u></a> feature, which allows clients to buy projects already planned out.</p><h2>3. Freelancer</h2><p>On <a href="https://www.freelancer.com/"><u>Freelancer</u></a>, you can list your project for free and then either browse through the profiles of freelancers and offer them to take your project or ask them to bid on it.</p><p>Clients can choose any bid they like; it doesn't have to be the cheapest. Like Upwork and Fiverr, which we'll cover next, you can easily collaborate with the designers on the platform.</p><h2>4. Fiverr</h2><p><a href="http://fiverr.com/"><u>Fiverr</u></a> is a platform primarily aimed at freelancers offering different services. What makes Fiverr unique is that it targets businesses looking to <a href="https://www.doughroller.net/personal-finance/smart-money/can-you-really-save-money-on-fiverr/"><u>save money and get a bargain on their projects</u></a>. They are also focused on one-time gigs.</p><p>The platform features a section for website designers and developers. It has a star rating system, which helps you quickly see how satisfied other clients were with a specific freelancer. On Fiverr, you’ll have to research the web designers to find the ones that fit your needs.</p><h2>5. Guru</h2><p><a href="https://www.guru.com/"><u>Guru</u></a> is a freelancer platform focusing on nine specialties, including web design. It was founded in 1998, just a year before Upwork. It also operates similarly to Upwork and is generally aimed at professionals. You can post both short-term engagements and long-term <a href="/web-development-resources/outsourced-team/"><u>remote jobs</u></a>, depending on your exact needs. Guru has a <a href="https://www.guru.com/pricing-employer/"><u>complex fee structure</u></a>, thus encouraging freelancers to charge more in some cases.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://pangea--prod.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/cms/uploads/assets/medium_2910_e897bfafde.webp" alt="hand-drawn website framework"></figure><h2>6. 99designs</h2><p><a href="https://99designs.com/"><u>99designs</u></a> is a platform for hosting design contests. You tell the web designers on the platform what kind of website you want, and they'll compete against each other to best answer your brief and submit designs you like. After the contest ends, you can choose the best design and continue working with the designer on the details.</p><p>In addition to web design, 99designs covers other types of design projects. They offer a flat price system, with different packages for different budgets. The quality of the designers usually depends on the package you choose — the more expensive it is, the better designers apply.</p><h2>7. Crowdspring</h2><p>Similar to 99designs, <a href="https://www.crowdspring.com/"><u>Crowdspring</u></a> is also a design content platform. It works the same, you submit a project brief, the designers submit their work, and you pick the one you like the most. In addition to web and graphic design, Crowdspring also offers naming services, which can be great for anyone looking to launch a new product or a company.</p><p>The number of submissions you receive based on your brief depends on your chosen package. If you're in a rush, you can also buy an add-on that reduces the turnaround time.</p><h2>8. Shopify Experts</h2><p>In addition to more general sites, there are marketplaces aimed explicitly at one platform. If you're looking for help with creating a design for a Shopify-powered website, you should check out <a href="https://experts.shopify.com/"><u>Shopify Experts</u></a>. This marketplace hosts freelancers that are vetted by the Shopify team.</p><p>You can either post a job or look for a specific expert based on your needs. You can find experts that specialize in many disciplines, including design.</p><h2>9. Webflow Experts</h2><p>If you’re in the market for website design for a Webflow-powered site, you should look at <a href="https://experts.webflow.com/"><u>Webflow Experts</u></a>.</p><p>Like Shopify Experts, Webflow hosts a marketplace with companies and freelancers vetted by the Weblofw team. In addition to having design and development experts, the marketplace also features marketing experts.</p><h2>10. Squarespace Marketplace</h2><p>Like Shopify Experts and Webflow Experts, <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/designer/home"><u>Squarespace Marketplace</u></a> features freelancers and companies vetted by Squarespace. This makes it an excellent place for anyone looking to get more out of the drag-and-drop website builder.</p><p>In addition to website design, Squarespace Marketplace has experts who can help you with SEO or setting up your online store.</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>Designing and building a website doesn't have to be complicated — if you have the right website design company to support you.</p><p>The best way to find the right web design vendor is by utilizing one of the platforms we recommended in this post. They are unique and cover different use cases, which is why we’re sure you’ll be able to find the one that fits your specific needs.</p><h2>FAQs:</h2><p>The processes of finding a web design company can still take some time. It can become even more challenging if you don’t have a good starting point. If that’s the case with you, and you don’t have all the important facts, the following questions and answers might lead you to the right path.</p><h3>Q1: What are the 3 types of web design?</h3><p>There are a lot of different types of website design. However, the 3 most common are static, CMS, and eCommerce:</p><ol><li>Static web design is the most basic type. It is usually used for simple websites that don't need to be updated often.</li><li>CMS or dynamic web design is a bit more complex and is usually used for websites that must be regularly updated.</li><li>Ecommerce websites are also complex and have a sales component connected with a specific eCommerce platform, according to <a href="https://yourstory.com/mystory/three-different-types-website-design-choose/amp"><u>YourStory</u></a>.</li></ol><h3>Q2: What are the 7 major steps to designing a website?</h3><p>The seven major steps to designing a website include:</p><ol><li>Identifying the goal. Every proper website needs to have a general goal.</li><li>Panning the project. To achieve that goal, the website project needs to be planned.</li><li>Designing the website itself. Once the project is planned, the web designer can start working on it.</li><li>Creating the content. Once the website design is done, the creative team can start working on the content for the website.</li><li>Visualizing the content. In addition to written content, the team should also work on visual content.</li><li>Developing the website. Once the design and the content are ready, the developers can step in and start coding the website.</li><li>Launching it. Once the website is coded and tested, it’s ready to be launched, according to <a href="https://www.webdew.com/blog/web-design"><u>Webdew</u></a>.</li></ol><h3>Q3: What are 5 uses of a website?</h3><p>Different websites can have different uses. However, most serve one of the following five uses:</p><ol><li>Building brand awareness. If businesses want people to recognize them and their offerings, they must have a website in 2022.</li><li>Promoting products and services. Secondary to building brand awareness, if a company sells products or services, its website is a great place to promote them.</li><li>Generate leads. Familiarizing people with your brand and services isn’t worthy if you can generate leads from them — this is also where a website can help.</li><li>As a customer support channel. One of the best and, at the same time, easiest ways to help support customers are on your company’s website.</li><li>Driving traffic to a business's physical locations. While some companies can sell their products or services online, others depend on face-to-face interactions at physical locations — which is where a website can help once again.</li></ol>

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