Getting Started with LESS - Beginner Crash Course

What is LESS ?

Less is a CSS is a superset of CSS and a pre-processor programming language, often referred as "Dynamic CSS".

• LESS syntax is modelled after traditional CSS
• LESS compiles into standard CSS3
• LESS allows you to extend your CSS with great features such as :
  • Variables for faster maintenance
  • Mixins as re-usable objects
  • Nesting for a cleaner stylesheet structure
  • Math calculations with the Operators.
• Less code and more work done !

Why use LESS ?

While CSS is a great language, it has its limitations.

For example, if you have a color code used multiple times in your stylesheet, you need to edit this one multiple times to update your design. Very tedious process!

LESS is great for the following reasons. :

• Allows to cut down one code and save time
• Reduce repetition (DRY) and mistakes
• It makes logical sense to break out CSS into multiple files with the feature

Every web developer or front-end UI engineer should use LESS over traditional CSS

=> What you will learn:

In the first section, you will :

• learn how to define Variables for faster maintenance.
• learn how to declare Mixins as reusable objects
• learn about Nesting for a cleaner stylesheet structure.
• learn how to perform mathematical calculations with the Operators

On a more advanced level, we will discuss about:

• Built-in functions
• Parametized and Guarded mixins
• The @import directive to include external stylesheets in one single document.

In a last chapter, you will apply what you have learned with a hand-on project.

=> The objectives of this course is to help you

• create smarter and cleanerer stylesheets,
• cut down on code,
• keep your code DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and organized.

=> By the end of the course,

1. you will understand how to use the LESS features and compile the less stylesheets into standard CSS
2. you will understand how to easily integrate mixins libraries as well as external resources such as Font Awesome and Google Font into your project.
3. You will also be able to install and use the application SimpLESS to compile your less files into beautiful CSS.
   1. SimpLESS is a GUI application for Less and Sass compilation.
   2. SimpLESS is simple to learn for first-time users and it is compatible with both PC and MAC.

In Getting Started with LESS, learn to take your CSS to the next level and write better styling code. With several demonstrations and examples. you will see the power of the pre-processor language.