Underscore.css.scss

Underscore.css.scss is a library for CSS and SASS that provides common, reusable, helper classes for structural, layout, and textual properties. Best used in large size applications with long life-spans and CMS style websites.

Main Goals

• Easy to build upon.
• Lightweight.
• Easily integrate with other frameworks and toolkits.

Directory Structure

CSS

The /css directory contains all the individual css files that make up underscore.css.scss. Each stylesheet provides some basic helpers that addresses the theme of the file name.

Example:

// image.css
 
._imgFluid {
  height: auto;
  max-width: 100%;
}
 
...

Full list of css files:

• images.css
• layout.css
• lists.css
• offsets.css
• sizing.css
• spacing.css
• text.css

SCSS

The /scss directory contains all the individual css files that make up underscore.css.scss in their .scss form. The .scss files also contains more detailed comments explaining what the various selectors address, any specific imports the file depends on, etc...

Full list of scss files:

• images.scss
• layout.scss
• lists.scss
• offsets.scss
• sizing.scss
• spacing.scss
• text.scss

mixins, functions, and addons

The /scss/mixins, /scss/functions, and /scss/addons directories contains some useful helper mixins and functions.

Compiling Stylesheets

Underscore.css.scss uses Grunt for task management.

Generate css files

From a command shell and at root of project:

npm run build

If you want to generate css on updates to the main scss files:

npm run watch

Underscore.css.scss also uses the grunt-autoprefixer plugin. Running either command above will parse the CSS and add the appropriate vendor-prefixes using the Can I use database.

Requirement

There are no hard requirements to underscore.css.scss, b/c anybody can just take the css files and do as they please, but in order to use the task manager Grunt or to work with SASS you will need to install them on your computer.

Installing Grunt

Grunt and the associated plugins are installed through npm, package manager for node.js.

1. Install Node v0.10.0 or greater.
2. From a command shell:

• npm install -g grunt-cli
• Navigate to project root directory and type npm install

Alternatively you can go here to read up on how to install Grunt.

Installing SASS

Uses SASS 3+

Note: SASS has a Ruby dependency.

1. Open Terminal or Command Prompt.

2. Install SASS.

gem install sass

1. Double-check.

sass -v

More information on how to install SASS here.

Styling Format

Namespace

All selectors are namespaced with an underscore to avoid any possible naming collisions with your personal application and other third-party libraries.

._selectorname { ... }

Declaration order

Declaration properties are grouped by context, with a single line seperating each group, and properties arranged in alphabetical order per group.

Group contexts and order within declaration block are as follows:

1. layout
2. box
3. background
4. typographical
5. Other

• generated content
• list properties
• table properties
• ...

Example:

._selector {
  display: block;
  overflow: hidden;
  position: relative;
 
  border: 1px solid;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  margin: 10px;
  padding: 10px;
 
  background: transparent;
 
  color: #333;
  font-size: 16px;
 
  list-style: none;
}

Versioning

Underscore.css.scss is maintained under the Semantic Versioning guidelines as best as possbile.

Releases are numbered <major><minor><patch>, increment the:

1. MAJOR version breaking backwards compatibility (reset minor and patch).
2. MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner (reset patch).
3. PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.

For information about Semantic Versioning, visit semver.org.

Browser Support

1. Chrome
2. Firefox
3. Opera
4. Safari
5. IE 8+ (I think!)

License

MIT license