here is a list of rails - plugins we use

• acts as authenticated (easy to use login) - very easy to use
• acts as state machine (state machine for user) - very easy to use
• asset packager (compresses JS and CSS in one file - will be built in rails 2.0) - very easy to use
• file_column (image uploade plugin - scales your image + several security checks) - a little bit more work

gems we use :

• rmagick (ruby image magick interface) - the install on macs is a little bit complicate
• gettext (localization for rails) - easy to install, easy to use

there are many more “acts as” plugins - these will help you for the most usecases in the web - comments, tags, voting

“Enterprise Emulation” is the best one