All the power and flexibility of Rails
With the basic features all websites need
Expertly hosted and supported by Aconix
For Developers
Developing just got a whole lot easier
In just two years Ruby on Rails has taken the web development world by storm. By offering giant leaps in productivity and developer happiness, it has become the de facto framework of choice for professionals looking to get more done in less time.
Yet getting started in Rails can be a little trickier than traditional scripting languages. Even once you're up and running, you’ll probably need to install separate plugins or hand-code features most clients now take for granted. For example: user authentication, content management, page searching, image handling, form emailers and so on.
Stop re-inventing the wheel
Silk gives you a working website with plenty of default features working beautifully together ‘out of the box’. But that is only one part of the story. Silk really shines when your client asks for custom functionality.
Instead of throwing your hands up in despair and having to start again from scratch, you'll find an open system which is a breeze to extend with your own code. From adding an appointment booking facility to creating the next Web 2.0 startup, Silk lets you focus all of your time and energy into building new features your clients will love.
Extend Silk in two different ways:
Extend each website
Extend each Silk website with custom functionality. Silk is implemented as a Rails Plugin, so you can easily build additional models, views and controllers into the 'main' application whenever you need to.
Unlike other CMS/CMF applications, Silk doesn’t have its own obscure programming language to learn – it just uses standard Ruby code throughout. It also keeps and sometimes extends the sensible conventions that make Rails so popular.
Build your own Silk plugin
Silk gives developers a solid, unbranded, platform to build new task-specific or industry-specific web applications which can be sold as subscription services on your own website.
For example you write a custom plugin for health clinic allowing visitors to book appointments and obtain advice through a wizard-like interface. Or how about a service for car dealerships that allows visitors to browse through the vehicles on sale.
Whichever method you choose, you will be able to spend your time developing only the functionality that adds value to your clients - whilst letting us take care of all the essentials.
Current Status
Silk is a brand new service launched in August 2007. At the moment we are focusing our efforts on enhancing Silk for Designers and Website Owners - in addition to automating our internal systems.
Though our service for developers is in its early days, we are seeking a small number of Rails Developers who can work with us to provide the first third-party Silk applications. Whilst we're currently viewing this part of Silk as Beta, we can provide you with developer support over email for no additional cost than the standard Silk service.
How does it work?
Silk does some very clever things, but there's no need to learn magic. Just buy a Silk website as you would a standard web hosting account and follow our Design Integration Guide. And remember, we're here to help if you need us.