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A collection of Joel Chippindale's infrequent reckons

Ruby docs on OS X with Fluid

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a neat little an application on your desktop which allows you to search and view ruby docs.

Well it’s just 4 easy steps away.

Step 1: Install Fluid

Download and install Fluid a site specific browser for OS X, that enables you to turn a website into an application.

Step 2: Download the Rails Searchable API Doc

  • Visit Rails Searchable API Doc
  • Press ‘select gems’ and decide which versions of Ruby, Rails and other common gems you want to include in your ruby docs application
  • Click download
  • Unpack the zip file you download and save it to ‘/Users/you/Library/Application Support/RubyDocs’ say.

I chose the ‘Rails Searchable API Doc’ because it includes a number of other ruby gems, has a good search function and supports keyboard shortcuts.

Of course if you prefer a different rendering of the docs, e.g. Noobkit and RailsBrain then you could download one of those instead.

Step 3: Download a nice icon

Download conekt’s excellent RubyDoc icon.

Step 4: Make your application

Open Fluid

  • Put the local URL of your docs, ‘file:///Users/you/Library/Application%20Support/RubyDocs/index.html’, say, in the URL field
  • Put ‘RubyDocs’ in the name field
  • Select ‘Other’ in the icon field and find your spiffy icon (downloaded in step 3)
  • Press the create button.

You’re done. Enjoy.