Ruby tools to set up a personal website

You didn't really specify how exactly your site is going to be in terms of static/dynamic content etc, so all one can really do is list some options:

• Sinatra
• Padrino
• Ramaze
• nanoc
• Stasis
• Camping (thanks fl00r)

At work we use Rails, for my private projects I tend to use Sinatra and am very happy with its minimalism. I am however planning to do something with Padrino soon, since it seems to be positioned in a nice niche between Sinatra and Rails.

I'm currently using Nanoc, and I'd definitely recommend starting with a static site generator. This almost completely cuts out many types of issue. It also enables you to store your content as text files on a filesystem, rather than dealing with a database and special editor interfaces.

If you need server-side programming then move up to something that uses Git as the storage, again really to avoid locking your content into a database.

It's well worth looking at Compass to help you with the CSS - Compass will work with whatever you choose. Compass does require you to spend a little time learning it, but can makes CSS much easier in the longer-term. For example, it has helpers that let you set up CSS3 effects.

Jekyll seems to be what the cool kids use these days. It's a generator, not a CMS.

You can find lots of "open source" sites online with various setups (see here)