Question

I want to start using LESS instead of regular CSS. I’ve been reading the last hours about it and it seems great, but I am still unsure how I should run/use it. That’s why I have some questions:

1. I’ve read that using less.js to compile on the client side is bad. This seems plausible. I’ve also read that you can compile on the server side using node.js. Node.js requires Python, but as I only have a hosting account (and not an own server), Python isn’t available. So I took a look into Less.app which compiles .less files to .css. Is there anything bad about using less-files for development, then compiling it into `.css and uploading that onto the online-server (and of course linking to that file)? The less-files don’t need to be online using that method, right?

2. I am using a WordPress naked-template as a starting point. This template is created without LESS. That means I have a .css file which e.g. includes a CSS-reset. Should I just copy these “normal CSS” lines into the .less file?

Answer 1

1. I use LESS for my websites, as an alternate to CSS. I use the LESS compiler SIMPLESS. With simpless, all you need to do is drag the LESS file, that you want to compile into CSS, into simpless. From here, simpless compiles the LESS file into a brand new CSS file with the same name and in the same folder location. From there, I just link that compiled css file in the head tag of my html document. Doing it this way, you are compiling the LESS file locally on your machine.

2. I would build out your css file structure using a “.less” file name. Then import all less files into one main less stylesheet and compile that stylesheet. Then you can just link the compiled CSS file in the head tag of your html document.

Thought I’d share how I use LESS. I love it so far!