SASS Replicating nested selector - css

Question

I'm using SASS for a project and so far I'm pretty satisfied with it.
However I have some code that should only be presented for IE 7 and below, using the class name .ie-lt8 for that. But when i extend that selector in SASS, with a nested selector i create multiple selectors.
Example (extending a display: inline-block code for IE):
SASS
/* My extension code */
.ie-lt8 %ie-inline-block {
display: inline;
zoom: 1;
}
/* I want the li to be inline-block */
#my-ul li {
display: inline-block;
#extend %ie-inline-block;
}
CSS produced
/* My extension code */
.ie-lt8 #my-ul, #my-ul .ie-lt8 li {
display: inline;
zoom: 1;
}
/* I want the li to be inline-block */
#my-ul li {
display: inline-block;
}
Generally this is just fine, but the #my-ul .ie-lt8 li worries me a little. In this example it's ok as the code works fine with both selector (the mentioned selector just doesn't exists). But what if i have another code where the selector DOES matter, then this would cause a problem.
A thought example:
SASS
/* I want the div to get a red border,
but the div inside .container to have a green border */
#myid .container div { border: 5px dotted green; }
#myid div {
#extend %red-border;
}
/* My extension code */
.container %red-border {
border: 1px solid red;
}
CSS it would produce
/* I want the div to get a red border,
but the div inside .container to have a green border */
#myid .container div { border: 5px dotted green; }
/* My extension code */
.container #myid div, #myid .container div {
border: 1px solid red; /* [OVERRIDE OF THE BORDER] */
}
My question is then; is there a way to make SASS only take the initial selector, without creating multiple selectors from a nested selector (a lot of selectors in one sentence)?
I tried gooling for this issue, but i find it hard to find any articles/blogs/etc. regarding this issue.
UPDATE
I'm aware of various workarounds, such as using #mixin's instead. I was just wondering whether there was something i missed regardig SASS, or if someone could tell me why this is? Cause it seems to me like it's kind of a bug.

Answer 1

My answer is in SCSS - not SASS so you'll have to convert...
For browser targeting like this, I would recommend using mixins, and furthermore - #content within a #mixin to achieve your desired results. It also sets up a much more understandable set of rules with context.
For your specific example, it's as simple as moving your inline-block fix into a mixin instead of declaring only as a class.
#mixin ie7-inline-block {
display: inline;
zoom: 1;
}
#my-ul li {
display: inline-block;
.ie-lt8 & {
#include ie7-inline-block;
}
}
Even better than that though, by using #content, you can always ensure that your style is prefixed with .ie-lt8 by making a mixin like so:
#mixin ie7 {
.ie-lt8 & {
#content;
}
}
#my-ul li {
display: inline-block;
#include ie7 {
display: inline;
zoom: 1;
}
}
Which will output the same css, but allows your IE7-Specific styles to be wrapped each time in some context that makes sense to anyone who reads your code.