Sass (the preprocessor) allows two different syntaxes: SCSS (a CSS-like syntax) and Sass (indented syntax).
The new main syntax is “SCSS”, is a superset of CSS3’s syntax. This means that every valid CSS3 stylesheet is valid SCSS as well. SCSS files use the extension .scss
Sass, the older syntax indented syntax is intended for people who prefer conciseness over similarity to CSS. Instead of brackets and semicolons, it uses the indentation of lines to specify blocks. Files in the indented syntax use the extension .sass
There are numerous CSS frameworks that are used to develop web applications such as Sass and LESS. They are both CSS based frameworks but the complexity of app handled by these frameworks are different. Each of these frameworks is suited for different web app development. Here I have provided a brief introduction between these frameworks and its features.
Sass is an extension of CSS3, adding nested rules, variables, mixins, selector inheritance, and more. It’s translated to well-formatted, standard CSS using the command line tool or a web-framework plugin. Sass has two syntaxes. The older syntax, called “the indented syntax” uses a syntax similar to Haml. It makes use of indentation to separate code blocks and newline characters to separate rules. The newer syntax, “SCSS” uses block formatting like that of CSS. It uses curly brackets to denote code blocks and semicolons to separate lines within a block. The indented syntax and SCSS files are generally given the extensions .sass and .scss respectively. Both these syntaxes are fully supported – there is no functional difference between them.
Features of Sass:
SASS is an excellent scripting language for web app development. But using it with frameworks makes web development even easier and enjoyable. One great thing about SASS is it has built in CSS color math. One can automatically change the color of the menu and the hover state manually. Another great way to use SASS is you can organize all of your CSS into a single file. It simply adds more power and better organizational tools, making it an easy choice as a go-to replacement.
LESS is a dynamic style sheet language that allows developers to reuse CSS elements and write LESS code with the same semantics. The LESS compiler is written in JavaScript, so you can just include it in your page along with your LESS stylesheet. It has everything that CSS is missing like Variables, Mixins, Nested rules, Operators and functions, Namespaces for grouping variables and mixins etc.
The similarity between these SCSS and LESS frameworks is its features and functions. But they slightly differ in syntax. They make web app development easier for the programmers and facilitate them to create intriguing web applications. SASS is only accessible to Ruby/Rails environments, while LessCSS can be used by anyone, with any languages, or just plain HTML website. For developers adopting these frameworks, it is essential to understand the paradigm shift these frameworks bring to client side application development.