What is Compass?
Compass is a Ruby-based open-source CSS-authoring framework that is specifically developed to address the shortcomings and limitations of CSS and streamline the entire process of writing CSS files.
If you wish to learn more about this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How does Compass improve CSS?
To understand how Compass improves CSS, we need to first see how Sass does it. You can think of Sass as a better, more streamlined version of CSS—CSS 2.0 if you will.
You see, CSS, while designed to make customising the look of websites easier can result in large, complex, and difficult to maintain files. Sass solves this by introducing things such as variables and other elements that are specifically designed to simplify CSS files and streamline the process of writing them.
Sass variables, for example, allow you to easily store bits of style information—such as font stacks, colours, and CSS values—that you want to be able to reuse quickly in different sections of your CSS files.
Sass partials, on the other hand, allow you to break your CSS code into different reusable modules that you can insert into any other Sass files. This eliminates the need for you to retype everything from scratch every time you build a new file.
So, where does Compass fit into all of this?
Well, Compass makes working with CSS even easier by making working with Sass easier. Simply put, Compass is an extension of Sass, and it uses all the powerful features the latter has.
Question #2: What are the benefits of using Compass?
The main benefit of using Compass, as we have seen earlier, is it makes working with CSS and creating significantly cleaner CSS files so much easier, by:
- Eliminating the need to create super long, ultra-complex, and extremely difficult to maintain CSS files
- Allowing developers to use variables and other reusable components to speed up the entire development process
- Converting long, repetitive lines of code into something shorter and more optimised
Question #3: What is the difference between Compass and Sass?
As we have seen earlier, the main difference between Compass and Sass is that the former is simply an extension of the latter. Both are designed to do virtually the same thing: address the issues of CSS and make the process of creating clean, optimised CSS files significantly easier and faster.
Question #4: Is Compass better than Sass?
While both Compass and Sass do pretty much the exact same thing, Compass is technically better than Sass because it is designed to make using the latter even easier.
This, however, does not at all mean that Sass is not powerful enough on its own. In fact, the benefit of switching from basic CSS to Sass should be more significant than that of switching from Sass to Compass. Compass simply makes an already powerful tool even more powerful and easier to use.
Question #5: Can I use Sass without Compass?
Absolutely! Of course, while you can use Sass without Compass, the question is why you would want to. After all, Compass does not only make working with Sass and CSS even easier, it is also an open-source tool, which means you do not have to pay anything to use it.
The only real reason to not use Compass (or get rid of it if you already are using it) is that it tends to slow down Ruby Sass a bit. This means that unless you absolutely need the additional features it brings to the table, then simply using Sass without it may be the better option for you.
Of course, if you need the additional features of Compass in your projects, then you should not let this minor issue bother you.