Most customers nowadays prefer web stores to brick and mortar stores. Hence, you must launch a robust eCommerce website to reach out to more customers, promote products effectively, and increase sales revenue. There are a number of frameworks that help you to build custom eCommerce website rapidly by providing features, tools, plug-ins, and extensions. Ruby on Rails (RoR) is currently one the widely used web frameworks for eCommerce website development.
Also, it is being used by a number of high traffic websites including Shopify, Groupon, Scribd, Slideshare, Github, Hulu, Yellow Pages, WhitePages, Urban Dictionary, Soundcloud, Intuit Community, Yammer, Basecamp, Square, UserVoice and Yammer. As an open source web framework, RoR enables you to reduce eCommerce website development cost. At the same time, it helps you to simplify development and maintenance of custom eCommerce websites by providing an array of robust features.
12 Reasons Why You Should Use Ruby on Rails for eCommerce Website Development
1) Reduced Coding Time
Unlike other web programming languages, Ruby on Rails programmers can build large web applications without writing longer lines of code. In addition to providing a built-in environment for web application development, it supports a number of programming paradigms including don’t repeat yourself (DRY) and convention over configuration (CoC). It also provides variety of modules and plug-ins that help developers to add functionality to the eCommerce website without writing additional code. So the framework makes it easier for developers to reduce coding time significantly.
2) Wide Variety of Gems and Modules
The modules and plug-ins provided by RoR helps programmers to reduce the coding time significantly. They can use the gems or plug-ins to implement additional features in the eCommerce website without writing longer lines of code. The framework further allows programmers to choose from a large collection of gems and modules according to their specific needs. At the same time, they also have option to create custom modules and plug-ins without putting any extra time and effort.
3) Truly Object Oriented
Unlike other popular web technologies, RoR is written in Ruby which is a fully object oriented programming language. So most aspects of the framework appears like objects. The programmers even have option to use strings, numbers, true, false and similar simple things as objects. They can make the code more readable and reusable by taking advantage of take various object-oriented programming concepts. The high quality code base further makes it easier for them to maintain and update the eCommerce website without putting extra time and effort.
4) MVC and Full-stack Framework
RoR is designed as a complete model-view-controller (MVC) framework. Further, as a full-stack developer framework it can be used for developing both frontend and backend of the eCommerce website. Along with providing a solution and structure for databases, it enables developers to effectuate data transfer using powerful web standards like XML and JSON. At the same time, it allows programmers to create the user interface and display using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
5) Agile Web Development
The RoR community advocates agile web development. So the framework allows developers to build ecommerce applications in iterations, and release the modules frequently for user feedback. The developers can further make changes to the ecommerce website based on the user feedback without any delay. Further, they can create prototype of complex websites rapidly to make it easier for various stakeholders to take the right decision.
6) Test Driven Development (TDD)
In addition to facilitating agile web development, RoR further enables developers to adopt test driven development. The integrated testing option provided by the framework helps programmers to test the code as and when they write. At the same time, they also have option to effectuate TDD by using a number of popular software testing tools like RSpec, Watir and Capybara. So it becomes easier for programmers to deliver a high quality and flawless eCommerce application within a short amount of time.
7) Representational State Transfer (REST) Architecture
Its REST architecture differentiates RoR from other web application development frameworks available in the market. The architecture rests between the relationship between the client and the server. Thus, programmers can take advantage of the REST system to write more functional code and build strong logic around the eCommerce website. The system further makes it easier for developers to add new features and functionality to the application in shorter sprints whose duration varies from two to four weeks.
8) Robust Security Features
RoR further offers several features to make the eCommerce websites secure. When programmers generate forms using the framework, it automatically signs the forms with a token. The token protect the application against form forgeries. At the same time, RoR protects the form elements from cross site scripting (XSS) attacks by enabling XSS policy by default. However, it still allows Ruby on Rails developers to customize the XSS policy by white-listing certain form elements that are less vulnerable to security threats.
9) Tools to Create Custom Shopping Carts
While doing eCommerce website development, programmers focus extensively on the quality of shopping carts. RoR allows programmers to build custom shopping carts by integrating three robust tools – Foundation, Radis, and BrainTree. They can use Foundation to design responsive pages that look good across many devices and platforms. Likewise, they can use Radis to create shopping carts that allow users to accumulate multiple items for purchase while browsing through the web store. At the same time, they can use BrainTree to accept credit card payments, and allow customers to subscribe to various premium plans.
10) Ruby on Rails Ecommerce Solutions
The developers can further build eCommerce websites rapidly by taking advantage of a number of eCommerce solutions written in RoR. Based on their needs, the programmers can choose from an array of eCommerce platforms including ror_ecommerce, Shoppe, Piggybak or Solidus. Despite being open source, these eCommerce solutions provide a variety of features and tools to simplify development of scalable eCommerce websites. The entrepreneurs can further take advantage of the admin interface provided by these eCommerce solutions to manage products, orders, shipping methods and payment methods without any hassle.
11) Ecommerce and Payment Plug-ins
While doing eCommerce website development with RoR, programmers have option to use a wide variety of eCommerce and payment plug-ins. These plug-ins helps developers to add functionalities to the web store and enhance its performance without writing additional code. For instance, the developers can use a flexible issue tracker like Spree to identify the bugs in the payment gateway, and get them repaired immediately to keep the payment and invoicing process secure. Likewise, they can use these plug-ins to make eCommerce application work seamlessly with widely used payment gateways like PayPal, Amazon Flex Play, DataTrans and Stripe.
12) Cost Effective
As noted earlier, RoR is an open source web application development framework. So it can be used by developers without paying any licensing fees. The openness helps programmers to go for robust eCommerce website development without increasing project overheads. At the same time, they also have option to resolve new problems by taking advantage of the active RoR community. The open source nature of the framework enables small enterprises and startups to launch eCommerce websites without investing a huge amount of funds.
On the whole, you can always consider using RoR as a robust web framework to accelerate eCommerce application development. But you must remember that RoR, like other web frameworks, has its own pros and cons. Hence, it is always important to evaluate the pros and cons of RoR according to precise needs of the eCommerce website.
No Comment