A random idea: rails distributions that include what “should be included in the core”. I’m not the first to think of it (google finds several others), but I have been mulling it over lately, and I think it’s a good idea. Nothing too fancy, simply a tarball or gem that includes rails + the stuff that you end up installing every time you set up a real web site with rails. Of course, “what to include” is the big question, so the best thing would be for lots of people to try, and see what sticks. Here’s what I always end up installing:

Acts as Authenticated

Exception Notifier

And I recently found another one that seems to be pretty small, and very handy:

Condition Builder

because I usually always end up having to build up complex queries with dynamic components with any sort of more advanced search, and this makes it much easier, and more fun.

However, I’m sure more advanced Rails users can add to that list. The trick is to nail those things that you pretty much always end up installing sooner or later as your project grows in complexity.

Perhaps at that point a gem could be created that installs them…