Frontend Ruby on Rails with Glimmer DSL for Web (submitted to an International Ruby conference)

I have submitted this talk to an international Ruby conference. 

Title:

Frontend Ruby on Rails with Glimmer DSL for Web

Elevator Pitch [FOR JUDGES]:

Glimmer DSL for Web is a Ruby Frontend Framework for Rails that won a Fukuoka Prefecture Future IT Initiative 2025 award from Matz. It is the missing piece of the puzzle that finally enables devs to write the Frontend of Rails web apps in Ruby too. This talk will cover its features and demo samples.

Description [PUBLIC]:

Glimmer DSL for Web is an SPA (Single Page Application) Framework for Rails that runs in Opal Ruby and has won a Fukuoka Prefecture Future IT Initiative 2025 award from Matz, the creator of Ruby. It provides a paradigm shift and the next stage of evolution in Frontend Development beyond JS libraries like Angular/Ember/React/Vue/Svelte by cutting down 12 months of JS work into 6 months of Ruby work every year. It has a more intuitive development model than Hotwire that better adheres to Software Engineering principles, albeit Hotwire has its place, and Glimmer can be used once Stimulus controllers grow too large or the need arises for using a Frontend SPA Framework.

It is currently in use at Eltropy inside the Collections 2.0 Fintech Rails web app as a gradual upgrade from React.js. It was able to cut down some React components by 1/10 the code and overall Frontend code by about ~50%, albeit with significantly more readable and maintainable Ruby, the language we all love. As a result, Glimmer DSL for Web should become the biggest difference maker and game changer in Rails development productivity in 2026, completely eliminating the need for directly using inferior JS libraries like React because Opal Ruby supports indirectly using any library in the entire JS ecosystem from Ruby.

Glimmer DSL for Web provides a Ruby HTML DSL, a Ruby CSS DSL (optional or to be used in a hybrid fashion with standard CSS/SCSS/Tailwind when Ruby logic is needed), Glimmer Web Components, Component Slots, Component Custom Event Listeners, ERB embedding glimmer_component Rails helper, Element Property Unidirectional/Bidirectional Data-Binding, Element Content Data-Binding, Element Inline Style Data-Binding, Element Class Inclusion Data-Binding, html_to_glimmer/css_to_glimmer commands for converting legacy HTML/CSS code to Glimmer DSL Ruby code, HTTP REST API Web Requests, and JavaScript library integration.

Using an isomorphic one language approach for both the Frontend and Backend in Rails web apps not only achieves significant productivity and maintainability improvements, but also opens the door to new possibilities, like the ability to reuse Backend Ruby logic directly in the Frontend without making API calls to provide faster response times for users, extending the Rails’ One Person Framework approach by enabling Backend Ruby Software Engineers to handle Frontend work in the same language (cutting hiring costs down by half), and enabling future architectural improvements such as connecting Frontend Ruby Models to Backend Ruby Models by automatically generating Rails REST APIs, thus removing the need for developers to write Rails controllers manually anymore, which would then cut down work in the Backend in addition to cutting down work in the Frontend, providing unheard of productivity benefits in Rails in the future.

Bio [FOR JUDGES] (including why I am the best person to give the talk):

The reason I am the best person to speak about this subject is that I wrote the Glimmer DSL for Web open-source project (glimmer-dsl-web Ruby gem) starting around 2024 and won the international Fukuoka Prefecture Future IT Initiative 2025 award for it in January of 2025 from Matz and other Fukuoka judges. I have spoken at RubyConf (2008/2022/2023/2024), RailsConf (2012/2014), MountainWest RubyConf 2011, MagicRuby 2011, and AgileConf 2008. I am the organizer of the monthly Montreal.rb Ruby Meetup in Montreal, Canada. I have a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from DePaul University, Chicago, USA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. I have 23 years of Software Engineering professional experience and 20 years of Ruby/Rails experience.