Joshua Thorin Messer

Well, I guess we all know that Rails has fantastic JS helpers. The array of tools is geniunely staggering and useful. We’ve got RJS: so we can just write Ruby and get js.

Of course, like everyone I know, Rails Javascript has a big but. Let’s talk about your big but, Rails JS.

The biggest bummer for me it that the Rails JS helpers (and I assume RJS, but I haven’t used it so can’t really say) spew their foul exhalations all over my pristine XHTML. Ok, this is not a big deal, but I just love the crisp, clean look of absolutely unobtrusive javascript. I don’t want a lick of js there in my HTML file if I can do anything to avoid it. When I write my own scripts, I can.

Here I think I come to the crux of my dissatisfaction. I guess I don’t mind writing a little javascript, especially if I can do it in JQuery. I like to write HTML too, so I guess I’m some sort of freak. Perhaps I’m taking one of the Rails traits to the extreme. I like to code, I don’t need some tool to write the code for me. This applies just as well to HTML, CSS, and Javascript—assuming Jquery, which makes me feel the way I do when I write Ruby.

A couple of projects to watch or contribute to if you’re interested in this problem :

• UJS Rails Plugin Unobtrusive Javascript for Ruby on Rails.
• Jquery on Rails (YAY!) [Update: I think this project has died?]