Windows 8 Pro upgrade experience.

    Fortunately for my Lenovo laptop, upgrade integration went smoothly and nicer then I had expected.  I were able to do the upgrade even preserving previous side by side installations and master boot records with an existing Linux distro.  The value for the operating system excellent likewise.  The Windows 8 user interface may take some time for me to get used to but in fairness the same difficulties could have been much the same for Ubuntu's Unity.  Its seems the interface reminds of the integration of a tablet or alternate peripherals culture.  Here relative the browser based interfaces, laptop and desktops such users might seem to benefit less from the start menus window 8 integration messaging, email, and peoples apps, for instance, but in comparison it seems even on the Linux side of distribution, umbrella messaging app integration s appears to be a trend.  Honestly, in the some many years of staying away from facebook or twitter, I succumbed and signed up for accounts, alongside some others not withstanding Tumblr.  I am too poor, of course, to work extensively with peripherals: smartphones, tablets and anything else that could serve to benefit greater here, but for the value I couldn't complain.  Aside from the start menu and other Ubnutu"lensing" like aspects offered here, the overall desktop experience isn't so much a stretch from the windows 7 interface.  Pulling up applications by the way is a bit different...or at least I determined this indirectly using a pull the start menu > right mouse button > hit all apps combination to do the trick of finding apps not immediately listed in start menu.  Likewise if you manage to pull the search tab from the right side bar.  Here there is a locus trick with the mouse pointer that I hadn't figured out...if there were more of a tablet or surface like touch elegance found with the mouse pointer, I might be more dazzled by this otherwise.  If you were expecting for elation here with the desktop, or laptop that hadn't resembled a tablet, the value I think brings more here relative the upgrade from windows 7 to 8 that seems more so and so for a really new experience.  Generally speaking I hadn't lost anything to my recollection in the transfer of data and applications, and there again these days now with ever increasing use of web based applications and online storage filling the role of computing needs, I've found less hassle in moving to a new operating system, and otherwise, mostly I was prepared to lose my Linux distro for the hassle of a new side by side attempted installation, this time windows seemed a little more friendly to the alternate operating system presiding on my laptop.
     Lastly, this brings a theory to mind and why some users absolutely disliked the Unity interface and jumped ship from Ubuntu to Mint which retains some of the more traditional and conservative desktop UI.  It would seem windows 8 parses between a new design philosophy and the tradition having been the mainstay which were the desktop itself, I actually liked the new windows 8 start interface, the old desktop still reminds that something of previous cultural traditions are hard to die, or at least something of a resistance to the idea that the larger screens would vacate old desktop models completely.  The application switcher (pull this by toggling the thumb start link then on the same vertical axis hoover the mouse to the north of this location) might have hinted at possibilities here: forgoing all sorts of potential application screen clutter and thumb tabs that scarcely remain to be understood...okay more likely with the added tab too many in the browser.  Honestly I would have been even happier if my windows 8 seemed more then ever like an elegant tablet, however having the mouse peripheral driving the interface in some manner.  Maybe a bit much for many users vested in conservative traditions, but then the traditional desktop has been there and if windows 8 looked looked so much like its pre cursor what could one say of the next desktop generation?  

Rails 3 problems encountered so far

Working on Rails 3 application with Devise.  The problems that I have encountered thus far or opinions concerning Rails from what I have seen in the entry level context:

-  Database, Controller, and Views outside pre fabricated structures have posed as increasingly difficult with respect to the database object associations (many to one, one to many).  I've for instance managed to easily create controller and views in the path of one to many  (e.g., mapping from users any number of posts isn't so hard), but I've had a difficult time mapping views of the many objects in one fell swoop (e.g., mapping all posts from the set of users...sort of has and hasn't worked for me).  In other words, digging deeper into customization with Rails hasn't appeared as easy beyond the first glances of generate and scaffold commands.  

- Problems with controller to view and route interpretations.  I set a route_to view_path link in a given rails html file and the interpreter seems to think the page makes action call to controller method isn't a redirect to another page handling the call to the actual controller action but seems to think it is the page request handling data passing to the actual controller action.  Alongside the task handling of user sessions verification in Devise with a customized controller function embedded in say something like a Posts controller, management appears neither so quick and easy on the customization end.

  

I'd lastly mention, I don't know as a noob that I am such a fan of controller architecture in the view models...one it seems that queries to database objects themselves could be more independent of the views themselves or why each and every page should have some compartmental controller structure that makes routing for database access so difficult when simpler security layers could be embedded into the framework alternately, and data inquiry could be opened up...tempts me to try and construct my own framework relative to something like this, or at least alternately outside of .net there's Django...

Rails 3 layout customization and gems stuff

Some interesting and possibly useful Rails Gems for website development that I've found thus far:

   -Authenticators/ user session login handling:  Devise

   -File uploader handling:  Carrierwave
   -E commerce system: Active Merchant 

File Streaming and downloading:  see Action Controller Overview

Contributing to this list as I go...

Some Rails 3 layout customization notes from a beginner

While starter tutorial is definitely helpful.  A few nuts and bolts that I've picked up thus far for layout customization aside from the more advanced assets pipeline guide.

  For general application wide style layout, the application.css is available.  However, if you need to reference asset data inside such css.  It may be important to change your style sheet from .css to .css.erb .  Assets pipeline guide indicates rails call where this applies (inside your html.erb file).  For this I'd cite the following applied examples:

@font-face { font-family: Yanone Kaffeesatz; src: src: url(<%= stylesheet_link_tag "YanoneKaffeesatz-Regular.ttf" %>); }

noting here the ruby url call is

<%= stylesheet_link_tag "YanoneKaffeesatz-Regular.ttf" %>

in this example.

Similarly,


header {
  background: #323534 url(<%= asset_path 'back.png' %>) repeat-x;
  height: 153px;
}

using the asset_path at least in the rails call inside your style sheet requires the .css.erb file path extension here for proper Rails execution of this line inside such stylesheet.

-I've used the public/assets folder for containing collections of image data in my site construction which links also to the 'asset_path' pipeline.

-In a given default Rails 3 application, by default the reference to, for instance, the application.css.erb style sheet will be found in the application.html.erb file

<%= stylesheet_link_tag    "application", :media => "all" %>

One would note the stylesheet_link_tag also controlling the link in the case to either .css or .css.erb stylesheets.

Setting up Devise with your Rails 3 application

The following tutorial provides probably the easier and simplest method for setting up a rail 3 web app using Devise authentication that I've seen. However, I'd additionally add that under your app setting up at config/routes.rb the following:
 default_url_options :host => "localhost:3000"

 or at least you'd want to set your default_url_option to something initially valid. Otherwise, you'd get a routing error.