I’m often asked why I use HAML for my projects.

2 Reasons:

  • easier to read than *.html.erb
  • easier to write than *.html.erb
  • wide adoption: some time ago I did a poll on r/rails to see it’s pupularity. Results:

haml-vs-erb

Clearly, HAML is a modern and popular choice for web development with Ruby on Rails 6.

VERY useful websites that help converting bulk code from haml to erb, that I use on a daily basis:

2022 Update: Back 2 .erb

After years of using and advocating for HAML, I’m switching back to ERB.

Why? Not because I like it more.

  1. Because it is more popular, thus lowering the entry barrier for people reading my code. (Stupid reason)
  2. Because in the new world of StimulusJS & Hotwire Turbo we now have to write a lot of data attributes and dom_ids, and I want to keep everything consistent. (Better reason)
  3. Because I had to get used to using it at work.

Althrough, haml-like logical nesting will forever be a must-have in my code. And if I had to draft an HTML page right away (without a framework), I would be able to do it faster and more elegantly in HAML. Haml is a viable way to writing beautiful HTML, that can be used way beyond the context of Ruby on Rails.

That’s life.