Question

In a rails application, in which situation would you use a partial and when would you use a helper? I find both very similar, since they represent markup fragments.

Is there a convention around this? which is the ‘rails way’ of using them?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I guess my rule of thumb is to use a helper to build a single ‘unit’ of display — like a span containing a link — and to use a partial to build a more complex unit of display composed of more than one ‘unit’ of display — like a grid or a menu.