combat the asset_helper and base_url

[eluser]ShawnMcCool[/eluser]
Well, I suppose since my blog is linked as what not to do I should post my response here.

That solution seems to misunderstand the purpose of an asset management subsystem.

The exact implementation of an asset management subsystem would vary from site to site. I’ll lay out one example that is commonly occurring. In this example we operate a site that allows users to create account and upload their own images. Let’s say that they’re uploading profile pictures and images of themselves on vacation. In this example the assets that are being created by the users would optimally be housed on something like S3. However, there may be specific reasons why you want to store the assets locally. Developers working in a local development environment would simply not have access to these assets. The pages would look bare and designers wouldn’t be able to easily work with the design as it would appear when deployed live. It would be the job of the asset helper to point the image calls on the local development environment to the live site’s URL. .htaccess does not provide the level of granular control that an asset management system could.

The purpose of an asset manager is not to shorten calls in code, but to provide a set of tools that allow the developer to easily move or access content in a way that is contextually appropriate for a site.