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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Templating Languages & Extensions
  4. CSS Pre Processors Extensions
  5. Compass vs Prepros

Compass vs Prepros

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Compass
Compass
Stacks352
Followers297
Votes12
GitHub Stars6.7K
Forks1.2K
Prepros
Prepros
Stacks23
Followers39
Votes21

Compass vs Prepros: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this comparison, we will highlight the key differences between Compass and Prepros, two popular tools used in web development for managing and compiling Sass files.

  1. Supported Platforms: Compass is mainly designed to work with Ruby and is supported on platforms like Mac, Linux, and Windows; whereas Prepros is a standalone application available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, making it more versatile in terms of compatibility with different operating systems.

  2. User Interface: Compass relies on the command line interface for compiling Sass files, which can be intimidating for beginners and developers who prefer a graphical user interface. Prepros, on the other hand, offers a user-friendly GUI that simplifies the process of managing and compiling Sass files.

  3. Live Browser Refresh: Prepros comes with a built-in feature that allows for live browser refresh, making it easier for developers to see instant changes reflected in the browser without manually refreshing the page. Compass lacks this feature and requires other tools or manual processes for live reloading.

  4. Dependency Management: Compass has a dependency on Ruby and requires the installation of Ruby and the Compass gem to work properly, which could be seen as an extra step for some developers. Prepros, being a standalone application, does not have any external dependencies, streamlining the setup process.

  5. Cost: Compass is an open-source project and is free to use, making it a cost-effective option for developers. In contrast, Prepros offers a free version with limited features and a premium version that unlocks additional functionalities, which may require a purchase for full access.

  6. Code Minification: Prepros includes the ability to minify CSS and JavaScript files, optimizing them for production environments. While Compass is primarily focused on Sass compilation, it does not offer built-in tools for code minification, requiring developers to use additional tools for this purpose.

In Summary, Compass and Prepros differ in terms of supported platforms, user interface, live browser refresh, dependency management, cost, and code minification capabilities.

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Detailed Comparison

Compass
Compass
Prepros
Prepros

The compass core framework is a design-agnostic framework that provides common code that would otherwise be duplicated across other frameworks and extensions.

It is an interface tool which handles pre-processing, and other front-end tasks. Its greatest strength is the incredible ease with which it allows you to use pre-processors of various kinds, be they for CSS, HTML or JavaScript.

-
Find Out Errors At a Glance; Live Reload; Minify & Optimize; Network Preview; Browser Sync
Statistics
GitHub Stars
6.7K
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Forks
1.2K
GitHub Forks
-
Stacks
352
Stacks
23
Followers
297
Followers
39
Votes
12
Votes
21
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 9
    No vendor prefix CSS pain
  • 1
    Variables
  • 1
    Compass sprites
  • 1
    Mixins
Pros
  • 4
    Easy to configure
  • 4
    Beautiful GUI
  • 4
    Easy to use
  • 3
    FTP upload
  • 2
    Any editor OK
Integrations
Sass
Sass
Windows
Windows
Linux
Linux
CoffeeScript
CoffeeScript
Slim
Slim
Less
Less
Pug
Pug
Markdown
Markdown
Stylus
Stylus
macOS
macOS
Jade Language
Jade Language

What are some alternatives to Compass, Prepros?

Sass

Sass

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.

Less

Less

Less is a CSS pre-processor, meaning that it extends the CSS language, adding features that allow variables, mixins, functions and many other techniques that allow you to make CSS that is more maintainable, themable and extendable.

Stylus

Stylus

Stylus is a revolutionary new language, providing an efficient, dynamic, and expressive way to generate CSS. Supporting both an indented syntax and regular CSS style.

PostCSS

PostCSS

PostCSS is a tool for transforming CSS with JS plugins. These plugins can support variables and mixins, transpile future CSS syntax, inline images, and more.

CodeKit

CodeKit

Process Less, Sass, Stylus, Jade, Haml, Slim, CoffeeScript, Javascript, and Compass files automatically each time you save. Easily set options for each language.

Bourbon

Bourbon

Bourbon is a library of pure sass mixins that are designed to be simple and easy to use. No configuration required. The mixins aim to be as vanilla as possible, meaning they should be as close to the original CSS syntax as possible.

LiveReload

LiveReload

LiveReload monitors changes in the file system. As soon as you save a file, it is preprocessed as needed, and the browser is refreshed.

CSS Modules

CSS Modules

It is a CSS file in which all class names and animation names are scoped locally by default. The key words here are scoped locally. With this, your CSS class names become similar to local variables in JavaScript. It goes into the compiler, and CSS comes out the other side.

astroturf

astroturf

It lets you write CSS in your JavaScript files without adding any runtime layer, and with your existing CSS processing pipeline.

PreCSS

PreCSS

It combines Sass-like syntactical sugar — like variables, conditionals, and iterators — with emerging CSS features — like logical and custom properties, media query ranges, and image sets.

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