Sass(Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets) is the most mature, stable, and powerful professional grade CSS extension language in the world.

Features

  • CSS Compatible: Sass is completely compatible with all versions of CSS.
  • Mature: Sass has been actively supported for about 12 years by its loving Core Team.
  • Frameworks: Popular frameworks built with Sass -> Compass, Bourbon, and Susy.
  • Nesting: HTML elements are nested. But CSS elements are not nested by default. Saas provides a way to nesting elements.
  • Variables
  • Math operators
  • Mixin
  • Condition
  • Loop
  • Partial and import
  • Extends

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Variables in Saas

  • Saas can use variables to set and store data.
  • Variables start with a $ followed by the variable name.
  • Use colon instead of equal sign for assignment.
  • Example

    $main-fonts: Arial, sans-serif;
    $headings-color: green;
    h1 {
      font-family: $main-fonts;
      color: $headings-color;
    }
    

Nesting Elements

  • Saas allows nesting of CSS rules to organize the style sheet.
  • CSS rules:

    nav {
      background-color: red;
    }
    
    nav ul {
      list-style: none;
    }
    
    nav ul li {
      display: inline-block;
    }
    
  • Equivalent Saas implementation:

    nav {
      background-color: red;
    
      ul {
        list-style: none;
    
        li {
          display: inline-block;
        }
      }
    }
    

Mixins

  • A mixin is a group of CSS rules that can be reused.
  • It accepts any number of variables as parameter.
  • Mixin starts with a @mixin followed by the mixin name.
  • The parameters are given between the parentheses.
  • Mixin can be used as a CSS declaration starting with @include followed by the name of the mixin.
  • Mixin declaration:

    @mixin box-shadow($x, $y, $blur, $c){
      -webkit-box-shadow: $x, $y, $blur, $c;
      -moz-box-shadow: $x, $y, $blur, $c;
      -ms-box-shadow: $x, $y, $blur, $c;
      box-shadow: $x, $y, $blur, $c;
    }
    
  • Use declared mixin:

      div {
        @include box-shadow(0px, 0px, 4px, #fff);
        color: black;
      }
    

Conditions

  • We can use if - else if - else condition in Saas using @if directive.
  • Example of conditions:

    @mixin text-effect($val) {
      @if $val == danger {
        color: red;
      }
      @else if $val == alert {
        color: yellow;
      }
      @else if $val == success {
        color: green;
      }
      @else {
        color: black;
      }
    }
    

Partials

  • Partials allow to create separate files that hold segements of CSS code.
  • This is an excellent way to group similar code into a module.
  • Names for partials start with underscore (_) character.
  • Saas compiler does not compile partials into CSS.
  • Example of a partial named _reset.scss:

    // _reset.scss
    html,
    body{
      margin:  0;
      padding: 0;
    }
    

Imports

  • @import directive is used to load partial into another Sass file.
  • Example of importing a partial named _reset.scss in another file called base.scss:

    // base.scss
    @import 'reset';
    body {
      font: 100% Helvetica, sans-serif;
      background-color: #efefef;
    }
    

Extend

  • @extend directive lets to extend an existing CSS rule in another.
  • Example of extending a CSS selector rule in another selector rule:

    .panel{
      background-color: red;
      height: 70px;
      border: 2px solid green;
    }
    
    .big-panel{
      @extend .panel;
      width: 150px;
      font-size: 2em;
    }
    
  • Example of using placeholder:

    %message-shared {
      border: 1px solid #ccc;
      padding: 10px;
      color: #333;
    }
    .success {
      @extend %message-shared;
      border-color: green;
    }
    .error {
      @extend %message-shared;
      border-color: red;
    }  
    
    • A placeholder class is a special type of class that can help keep compiled CSS neat and clean.
    • Placeholder class starts with the percent character (%).
    • Placeholder classes are not printed in compiles CSS.
    • In the previous example, message-shared placeholder class will not present in the compiles CSS.

Reference:

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Cite This Work
APA Style
Shovon, A. R. (2019, May 6). Basic features of Saas with example. Ahmedur Rahman Shovon. Retrieved March 25, 2024, from https://arshovon.com/blog/saas-basic-features/
MLA Style
Shovon, Ahmedur Rahman. “Basic features of Saas with example.” Ahmedur Rahman Shovon, 6 May. 2019. Web. 25 Mar. 2024. https://arshovon.com/blog/saas-basic-features/.
BibTeX entry
@misc{ shovon_2019,
    author = "Shovon, Ahmedur Rahman",
    title = "Basic features of Saas with example",
    year = "2019",
    url = "https://arshovon.com/blog/saas-basic-features/",
    note = "[Online; accessed 25-March-2024; URL: https://arshovon.com/blog/saas-basic-features/]"
}