How to DRYly render code snippets within a style guide - css

I'm building a simple, static style guide. It includes only static front-end assets – CSS, JS, fonts, and images which will be included in client apps via bower. My development stack, however, is a bit more sophisticated. I'm using gulp to wire up jade, sass, coffeescript etc. Everything is working great.
In the guide, I would like to have a preview of the source code so that you can conveniently copy the markup for a widget and paste it directly into your project. You can see this, for example, in the docs for Foundation. I would like to do something similar in my styleguide.
Now my question...
Of course, I could just duplicate the markup (once to render the content and a second time in pre tags to render the code snippet). But that's obviously bad because then I run the risk of failing to keep them in sync, thus defeating the entire purpose of displaying a code snippet.
Ideally, I want to type the markup once and have it render both the content and the code snippet. In a previous project, I was able to achieve this by writing a custom HAML filter. How can I do this with Jade?

Here are a couple solutions:
render-code - for file based code snippets in the same repository
jekyll-github-sample - for code snippets from any GitHub repo

Related

Theming HTML5 canvas along with rest of site

I'm working on theming a web app, and I ran into a problem with an angular directive that is being used. It's called angular-knob, and it uses an HTML5 canvas to display a progress bar input. Since it's a canvas, you have to tell it the color in JavaScript instead of CSS. This is the problem.
The rest of the site is themed based on a set of LESS variables. I would like the canvas to be the color of #brand-primary from the variables.less file, which could also be overridden in other theme-*.less files. I haven't found a good solution to this yet, but these are some of the ideas I've had:
Parse the variables from the LESS file with some kind of ASP.Net utility (haven't found anything that would do this for me) to get the variable names and then render them to the client in a JavaScript variable (which I could then put in an angular service)
Have gulp parse the variables from the LESS file (again, haven't found any npm packages that would do this for me) and create a script that puts the variables in with the JavaScript bundle.
Like I said, I haven't found any LESS file parsing utilities for ASP.Net or npm that would get me access to the LESS variables.
How would you tackle this kind of problem? Has anyone else had to handle something like this?

Using Less with Web Components

As stated by Rob Dodson, style tags are now unavoidable with Web Components. I am trying to find a way to use LESS with this new tecnhology without having to paste the compiled CSS in my HTML document everytime I change something in the LESS file . Is there anyway to achieve that?
I am using Polymer.
Thanks!
Laurent
You can make the client compile the LESS to CSS , you should definitely take a look at this :
http://lesscss.org/#client-side-usage
It is advised to compile it yourself to css in a production environment though !
Doing this client-side hardly seems like the corrent solution, especially at scale. For instance, do you really want 1000 web components in your app all including LessCSS and compiling on the client side?
Just compile server-side and include the compiled version in your html import. Apps like DocPad, make this a lot easier. For instance:
src/documents/components/my-component/my-component.css.less is your source file, and is compiled to out/components/my-component/my-component.css, which is accessible at /compoennt/my-component/my-component.css.
We use this workflow to also make use of javascript pre-processors like coffeescript, as well as post-processors like css auto prefixer, and bundlers like Browserify. See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/23050527/130638 for more info.
Simply compile your less and embed the generated CSS file via good old link tag.
I don't think that rob wanted to say that using style tags is the only way to go. You can still link to external stylesheets as you always did.
Why don´t you compile on server side using php compiler? Have a look here - http://leafo.net/lessphp/ -
To let you know, i´m using this compiler on my projects, on the server side without any kind of problems!!!!!!! :) IMO, it´s better to have the compilation work on the server side. I´m not totally 100% sure, but i think IE8 don´t recognize text/less
The way I have done this before is have individual .less or .scss file for each component and have it compile into the individual .css file which is then called into the respective component file. and finally vulcanize everything into a single file.
Incase you want to use a single CSS file, then use //deep// combinator or ::shadow pseudo elements in the CSS.
If you able to create the custom elements without using ShadowDOM then you can simply have all your less merge into a single CSS.
Honestly speaking I was unable to create a wc without shadowDOM in polymer. There is a long conversation on github on enabling / disabling and hacking a way to create a wc without shadowDOM here https://github.com/Polymer/polymer/issues/222
One solution would be to have the preprocessor translate .less files into .css and then linking them inside Polymer components, like explained in the official documentation: https://www.polymer-project.org/1.0/docs/devguide/styling#external-stylesheets
Unfortunately this is deprecated. So the other way to go could be to have another step that wraps the preprocessor-generated css files with a dom-module: this way you can follow the Polymer way including the style module inside your components, or using the css file compiled from less if you do things outside Polymer components.
I'm using Gulp for my build process and I found this module very useful:
https://github.com/MaKleSoft/gulp-style-modules
It creates, for every .less file I have in my sources, an .html file with a dom-module wrapped around it, ready to be included in the components' styles.

How do you use LESS with BlogEngine.net?

The LESS docs here
http://lesscss.org/#usage
say: "Make sure you include your stylesheets before the script."
However, BlogEngine.net seems to make that impossible by rewriting all the links to *.js file and putting them before the style sheets.
I've tried everything I can think of including putting the files in a subdirectory and using a relative path. I'm very hesitant to mess with the BlogEngine.Net code.
Is there any way to get LESS to work with CSS in BlogEngine.Net? Any way to force the engine to allow me to order the Javascript entry after the *.less reference?
Perhaps you could use the Tracking Script or the "Add custom code to the HTML head section" fields (you can find them in Admin -> Settings -> Custom code).
From what I can see in the code, these fields are rendered in the HEAD section after the stylesheets.
Is there any way to get LESS to work with CSS in BlogEngine.Net?
If you are willing to consider a different approach than using the client side less parser than I recommend trying the design time less parser in either Visual Studio 2012.2 or The Web Essentials Extension in Prior releases of Visual Studio 2012. It allows you to write your less file and have it compiled to css and minified css every time you save. Then you can just reference the output min.css file in your theme.

Do I have to use Compass to modify CSS with Django-Grappelli?

I recently setup django-grappelli on my first django app. While I like the way it looks I want to customize the colors, and other CSS.
From my research, it looks like I will have to use Compass but I've never used Compass before and want to double check that this is the best method before I embark on that path!
Is Django-grapelli even the right choice for some one that wants to customize the color theme?
Things I tried
Modify the CSS in the Grappelli stylesheets but they are formatted in a way that makes it tedious.
Extend the style sheet but I am not sure where to do this for the admin.
Create a custom.css but could not figure out where to put the path
Thanks for your advice!
It seems to me like Compass is just a tool to write CSS. I've never used it, but at the moment I don't see how it could make modding the admin interface any easier than doing it manually!
Whenever I make changes to the admin (I've made changes to Grappelli, like you're trying to do), I always use what you've listed as number 2. I've never had any troubles! I can try to help you out, if you'd like to try again.
What I do first is go to my Python install directory and copy the Grappelli source from Lib/site-packages. I put this code in my project directory as a project-level app. So, if you're using Django 1.4, you'll have a folder that has your project folder as well as manage.py in it. Put the code there.
Then, using your favorite web developer tools (I prefer Chrome's), figure out which stylesheet you need to modify and which css file it's in. I do this by right-clicking the element and selecting Inspect Element. This brings up the dev tools, and at the right it tells you the css file its referenced from as well as which line its on. If you open up that css file in your favorite text editor and make changes to it, it should work!
Let me know if you're having any trouble with this. I can try to help you out further.
(and, P.S., I wasn't trying to be pedantic with a basic overview of the use of Chrome's developer tools. I was just trying to be helpful by not assuming anything. I hope you don't take it as an insult.)

Can I manage my CSS as ModX Resources?

I've been working with the ModX Revolution manager, and was wondering if I can turn my CSS into ModX Resources rather than files. I'd also like to utilize Templates and their variables. Is that possible? What are the drawbacks of doing so? Are there any advantages (aside from the ones I think below)?
The reason I would prefer this is that I use several CSS pages with the #import statement to object orient my CSS a little bit better. If I could do this directly in ModX, it would save me uploads and syncing.
In previous versions of ModX (Evo and Revo), you used to have to go through tricks. Now with 2.2.2pl, it is possible with very few tricks. The information to do this is sparse and inaccurate any more. Here's how you do it:
Create Your Template
Create a new Template. I named mine CSS Stylesheet. (Simple as that)
For the content, simply put [[*content]].
Create Your CSS Page
Create a new resource. Name it whatever you would like.
Add your alias. Make sure you do not add the .css at the end. ModX should do this for you.
Now, make sure your new page is published. You may also want to hide from menus.
Add your CSS code. No funny tricks... Just copy and paste it like you normally would.
Test the Stylesheet
Simply navigate directly to your new page as if it were an html document. Don't forget the .css instead of .html. If you see the CSS code, then you've succeeded.
Add Your CSS to the Templates
This one is the tricky part. You won't be able to use the <link rel=></link>.
Simply go to your <head> element. Add the following code:
<style type="text/css">
#import url("");
</style>
Test the
Inside the url("");, just place the url to your new resource.
Advantages
Aside from the saving the uploading and downloading, you can now edit your CSS using any of the ModX tools. Additionally there are a few other perks:
If you're like me, file names are useful, but often not descriptive enough. You can name them whatever you like! Its the alias that is important anyway.
Handy tool-tips based on the Description of the resource.
You may also utilize the Summary of the resource for other things. I place the important file comments in here, so that my CSS is smaller.
Template Variables! In previous versions of ModX, you couldn't have a Template for your CSS.
Chunks and Snippets, if you so desire. You have to write them as plain text, rather than HTML, but it's still useful if you are creative.
Your CSS is now shared between all of your Contexts if you like. This is due to the nature of the #import statement.
You can edit your CSS from any computer. You may even set up your front-end for the editing.
Drawbacks
There's always trade-offs, and with this technique it is no different. A lot depends on how you have things set up for your site.
Your saving and editing is based on your server performance.
Your URL requests will be based even more on your ModX performance. For some, adding these extra resources could slow things down. Often, its not enough to worry about, but its worth mentioning.
It's now managed by the database, so its subject to database security. This can be good or bad. Even it is good, it probably will require extra set up from you.
Your Templates, Snippets and Plugins can break your CSS, if programmed incorrectly. This is something you really want to be careful with.
Each CSS request is treated as a separate request by ModX. The Template Variables and plugins do not apply to the web page you are viewing. They apply to the CSS content.
Conclusion
The whole process takes about 15 minutes. And ultimately, it's even faster to revert back if it doesn't work for you (just don't delete the raw files until you are sure). The added functionality is worth it to me.

Resources