---
title: Sass Basics
---

%p.introduction
  Before you can use Sass, you need to set it up on your project. If you want
  to just browse here, go ahead, but we recommend you go install Sass first.
  = link_to "Go here", "/install"
  if you want to learn how to get everything setup.

- content_for :complementary do
  %h3 Topics
  %ul.anchors
    %li= link_to "Preprocessing", "#topic-1"
    %li= link_to "Variables",     "#topic-2"
    %li= link_to "Nesting",       "#topic-3"
    %li= link_to "Partials",      "#topic-4"
    %li= link_to "Import",        "#topic-5"
    %li= link_to "Mixins",        "#topic-6"
    %li= link_to "Inheritance",   "#topic-7"
    %li= link_to "Operators",     "#topic-8"

%ul.slides
  %li#topic-1
    :markdown
      ## Preprocessing

      CSS on its own can be fun, but stylesheets are getting larger, more
      complex, and harder to maintain. This is where a preprocessor can help.
      Sass lets you use features that don't exist in CSS yet like variables,
      nesting, mixins, inheritance and other nifty goodies that make writing
      CSS fun again.

      Once you start tinkering with Sass, it will take your preprocessed Sass
      file and save it as a normal CSS file that you can use in your
      website.

      The most direct way to make this happen is in your terminal. Once Sass is
      installed, you can compile your Sass to CSS using the `sass` command.
      You'll need to tell Sass which file to build from, and where to output
      CSS to. For example, running `sass input.scss output.css` from your
      terminal would take a single Sass file, `input.scss`, and compile that
      file to `output.css`.

      You can also watch individual files or directories with the `--watch`
      flag. The watch flag tells Sass to watch your source files for
      changes, and re-compile CSS each time you save your Sass. If you wanted
      to watch (instead of manually build) your `input.scss` file, you'd just
      add the watch flag to your command, like so:

      `sass --watch input.scss output.css`

      You can watch and output to directories by using folder paths as your
      input and output, and separating them with a colon. In this example:

    ~ partial "code-snippets/homepage-sass-watch"

    :markdown
      Sass would watch all files in the `app/sass` folder for changes, and
      compile CSS to the `public/stylesheets` folder.

    %hr/

  %li#topic-2
    :markdown
      ## Variables

      Think of variables as a way to store information that you want to reuse
      throughout your stylesheet. You can store things like colors, font stacks,
      or any CSS value you think you'll want to reuse. Sass uses the
      <code>$</code> symbol to make something a variable. Here's an example:

    - example do
      :plain
        $font-stack:    Helvetica, sans-serif;
        $primary-color: #333;

        body {
          font: 100% $font-stack;
          color: $primary-color;
        }
        ===
        $font-stack:    Helvetica, sans-serif
        $primary-color: #333

        body
          font: 100% $font-stack
          color: $primary-color

    :markdown
      When the Sass is processed, it takes the variables we define for the
      <code>$font-stack</code> and <code>$primary-color</code> and outputs
      normal CSS with our variable values placed in the CSS. This can be
      extremely powerful when working with brand colors and keeping them
      consistent throughout the&nbsp;site.

    %hr/

  %li#topic-3
    :markdown
      ## Nesting

      When writing HTML you've probably noticed that it has a clear nested and
      visual hierarchy. CSS, on the other hand, doesn't.

      Sass will let you nest your CSS selectors in a way that follows the same
      visual hierarchy of your HTML. Be aware that overly nested rules will
      result in over-qualified CSS that could prove hard to maintain and is
      generally considered bad practice.

      With that in mind, here's an example of some typical styles for a
      site's&nbsp;navigation:

    - example do
      :plain
        nav {
          ul {
            margin: 0;
            padding: 0;
            list-style: none;
          }

          li { display: inline-block; }

          a {
            display: block;
            padding: 6px 12px;
            text-decoration: none;
          }
        }
        ===
        nav
          ul
            margin: 0
            padding: 0
            list-style: none

          li
            display: inline-block

          a
            display: block
            padding: 6px 12px
            text-decoration: none

    :markdown
      You'll notice that the <code>ul</code>, <code>li</code>, and
      <code>a</code> selectors are nested inside the <code>nav</code> selector.
      This is a great way to organize your CSS and make it more readable.

    %hr/

  %li#topic-4
    :markdown
      ## Partials

      You can create partial Sass files that contain little snippets of CSS that
      you can include in other Sass files. This is a great way to modularize
      your CSS and help keep things easier to maintain. A partial is simply a
      Sass file named with a leading underscore. You might name it something
      like <code>_partial.scss</code>. The underscore lets Sass know that the
      file is only a partial file and that it should not be generated into a CSS
      file. Sass partials are used with the <code>@import</code> directive.

      ***

  %li#topic-5
    :markdown
      ## Import

      CSS has an import option that lets you split your CSS into smaller, more
      maintainable portions. The only drawback is that each time you use
      <code>@import</code> in CSS it creates another HTTP request. Sass builds
      on top of the current CSS <code>@import</code> but instead of requiring an
      HTTP request, Sass will take the file that you want to import and combine
      it with the file you're importing into so you can serve a single CSS file
      to the web browser.

      Let's say you have a couple of Sass files, <code>\_reset.scss</code> and
      <code>base.scss</code>. We want to import <code>\_reset.scss</code> into
      <code>base.scss</code>.

    - example do
      :plain
        // _reset.scss

        html,
        body,
        ul,
        ol {
          margin:  0;
          padding: 0;
        }
        ---
        // base.scss

        @import 'reset';

        body {
          font: 100% Helvetica, sans-serif;
          background-color: #efefef;
        }
        ===
        // _reset.sass

        html,
        body,
        ul,
        ol
          margin:  0
          padding: 0
        ---
        // base.sass

        @import reset

        body
          font: 100% Helvetica, sans-serif
          background-color: #efefef
        ===
        html,
        body,
        ul,
        ol {
          margin:  0;
          padding: 0;
        }

        body {
          font: 100% Helvetica, sans-serif;
          background-color: #efefef;
        }

    :markdown

      Notice we're using <code>@import 'reset';</code> in the
      <code>base.scss</code> file. When you import a file you don't need to
      include the file extension <code>.scss</code>. Sass is smart and will
      figure it out for you.

    %hr/

  %li#topic-6
    :markdown
      ## Mixins

      Some things in CSS are a bit tedious to write, especially with CSS3 and
      the many vendor prefixes that exist. A mixin lets you make groups of CSS
      declarations that you want to reuse throughout your site. You can even
      pass in values to make your mixin more flexible. A good use of a mixin is
      for vendor prefixes. Here's an example for <code>transform</code>.

    - example do
      :plain
        @mixin transform($property) {
          -webkit-transform: $property;
          -ms-transform: $property;
          transform: $property;
        }

        .box { @include transform(rotate(30deg)); }
        ===
        =transform($property)
          -webkit-transform: $property
          -ms-transform: $property
          transform: $property

        .box
          +transform(rotate(30deg))

    :markdown
      To create a mixin you use the <code>@mixin</code> directive and give it a
      name. We've named our mixin <code>transform</code>. We're also using
      the variable <code>$property</code> inside the parentheses so we can pass in
      a transform of whatever we want. After you create your mixin, you can then
      use it as a CSS declaration starting with <code>@include</code> followed
      by the name of the mixin.

    %hr/

  %li#topic-7
    :markdown
      ## Extend/Inheritance

      This is one of the most useful features of Sass. Using
      <code>@extend</code> lets you share a set of CSS properties from one
      selector to another. It helps keep your Sass very DRY. In our example
      we're going to create a simple series of messaging for errors, warnings
      and successes using another feature which goes hand in hand with extend,
      placeholder classes. A placeholder class is a special type of class
      that only prints when it is extended, and can help keep your compiled
      CSS neat and clean.

    - example do
      :plain
        /* This CSS will print because %message-shared is extended. */
        %message-shared {
          border: 1px solid #ccc;
          padding: 10px;
          color: #333;
        }

        // This CSS won't print because %equal-heights is never extended.
        %equal-heights {
          display: flex;
          flex-wrap: wrap;
        }

        .message {
          @extend %message-shared;
        }

        .success {
          @extend %message-shared;
          border-color: green;
        }

        .error {
          @extend %message-shared;
          border-color: red;
        }

        .warning {
          @extend %message-shared;
          border-color: yellow;
        }
        ===
        /* This CSS will print because %message-shared is extended. */
        %message-shared
          border: 1px solid #ccc
          padding: 10px
          color: #333


        // This CSS won't print because %equal-heights is never extended.
        %equal-heights
          display: flex
          flex-wrap: wrap


        .message
          @extend %message-shared


        .success
          @extend %message-shared
          border-color: green


        .error
          @extend %message-shared
          border-color: red


        .warning
          @extend %message-shared
          border-color: yellow

    :markdown
      What the above code does is tells <code>.message</code>,
      <code>.success</code>, <code>.error</code>, & <code>.warning</code>
      to behave just like <code>%message-shared</code>. That means anywhere
      that <code>%message-shared</code> shows up, <code>.message</code>,
      <code>.success</code>, <code>.error</code>, & <code>.warning</code>
      will too. The magic happens in the generated CSS, where each of these
      classes will get the same CSS properties as <code>%message-shared</code>.
      This helps you avoid having to write multiple class names on HTML
      elements.

      You can extend most simple CSS selectors in addition to placeholder
      classes in Sass, but using placeholders is the easiest way to make
      sure you aren't extending a class that's nested elsewhere in your
      styles, which can result in unintended selectors in your CSS.

      Note that the CSS in <code>%equal-heights</code> isn't generated, because
      <code>%equal-heights</code> is never extended.

    %hr/

  %li#topic-8
    :markdown
      ## Operators

      Doing math in your CSS is very helpful. Sass has a handful of standard
      math operators like `+`, `-`, `*`, `/`, and `%`. In our example we're
      going to do some simple math to calculate widths for an `aside` &
      `article`.

    - example do
      :plain
        .container {
          width: 100%;
        }

        article[role="main"] {
          float: left;
          width: 600px / 960px * 100%;
        }

        aside[role="complementary"] {
          float: right;
          width: 300px / 960px * 100%;
        }
        ===
        .container
          width: 100%


        article[role="main"]
          float: left
          width: 600px / 960px * 100%


        aside[role="complementary"]
          float: right
          width: 300px / 960px * 100%

    :markdown
      We've created a very simple fluid grid, based on 960px. Operations in Sass
      let us do something like take pixel values and convert them to percentages
      without much hassle.