Pragmatic Guide to Sass

by Hampton Catlin, Michael Lintorn Catlin

CSS is fundamental to the web, but it's a basic language and lacks many features. Sass is just like CSS, but with a whole lot of extra power so you can get more done, more quickly. Build better web pages today with Pragmatic Guide to Sass . These concise, easy-to-digest tips and techniques are the shortcuts experienced CSS developers need to start developing in Sass today.

Written by Sass creator Hampton Catlin and Michael Lintorn Catlin, Pragmatic Guide to Sass shows you how to you to improve your CSS, from the basics to advanced topics, from first installation to sprucing up your buttons. You'll see how to code the right way in Sass thanks to short, clear examples. Two-page spreads show the explanation on one side and code examples on the other. You'll learn how to improve your pages in minutes.

You'll be able to perform amazing feats of CSS including using variables, calculating layouts, and modifying colors. Did you ever want to make a color 10% less saturated? We'll show you how to do that without needing a calculator.

Plus, learn about Compass, Sass's library of carefully built hacks, reusable parts, and frameworks. Find out how to shortcut cross-browser issues and develop mixins for shortening text and making lists more exciting. You'll wonder how you spent all those years styling sites without it!

Make things even easier with Blueprint, and discover how to use its predefined classes that you can apply to your Web site. From selector scoping to bundling, debugging, and designing custom functions, Pragmatic Guide to Sass will help you build the pages you've always wanted.

What You

* An installation of Sass and Compass

* Some basic command line knowledge

Genres: Programming, Technology, Reference

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2011

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Basically it was a very high-level summary of the SCSS README in a vaguely "cookbook" style. Didn't impart an organizing mental model or opinionated approach to web design using these technologies. The only reason this wasn't a one-star review was that the intro to Compass and Blueprint were somewhat useful to me. Still, I think just reading the READMEs for those projects would have been better. Sad to see the Pragmatic Programmers releasing this.

[Stefan Kanev · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's essentially a summary of the README. You don't learn much, if anything. It mentions Compass and Blueprint, but in no way it does them justice. There are a bunch of examples you can probably use for reference, but I find them overly simplistic to be useful for anyone who isn't completely new to CSS.

[Sergey Shishkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quite good tutorial with tips and tricks in SASS. Though I'm not sure if a book is the right format for the content.

[Tun Win Naing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Write in short-to-the-point style. One page of explanation followed by one page of example code and output. Not reference but more like cheatsheet in a small book format.

[Rachyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhh, documentation for idio-- I mean, people who're new to this. Like me :)

[Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super quick read, good for hitting the ground running. Best appreciated if you already know CSS and some programming.