I want to implement a tree menu (simple example of tree menu) in a Rails app that I am working on. I am unsure of whether to use acts_as_tree or Ancestry. Its seems that it would be easier to implements a simple tree menu using acts_as_tree, however, Ancestry is more popular and regularly maintained. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Use ancestry. It has more powerful query capabilities as it implements the materialized path pattern, as opposed to acts_as_tree that implements adjacency list.
There are other options too, like nested set, but materialized path is usually the most comprehensive.
https://communities.bmc.com/communities/docs/DOC-9902
If you need to sort in preorder at DB level (for example a paginated tree-grid, a preloaded menu that you iterate and indent/dedent according to the depth in tree for displaying) you need to either use a recursive query, or sortable encoding like nested set or nested interval. (That is if sorting in memory is not an option, and it almost never is.)
https://github.com/collectiveidea/awesome_nested_set
https://github.com/clyfe/acts_as_nested_interval
Each has ups and downs. Choose your what fits you.