In this tutorial, we’ll review the process of better integrating Sass debugging into our workflow with Chrome Developer Tools.

Introduction – Sass

Sass stands for Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets; think of it as an extension to vanilla CSS that provides such features as:

• Variables – For example, define a color upfront, and reference that value in multiple places.
• Mixins – Share common styles throughout a stylesheet with as little code as possible.
• Nesting – Allows for the nesting of CSS rules, with a benefit of not redefining the outer rules selector again.
• Plenty more, such as if statements, for loops and an interactive console to experiment with (not to mention the power of Compass).

Sass is open source on Github, and can be installed as a gem. If you’re new to Sass, check out our mini-series, Mastering Sass, here on Nettuts+!

Introduction - Chrome Developer Tools

Chrome Developer Tools, integrated into the Chrome browser, offers a wonderful set of tools for debugging web pages. It would not be strange to see a front-end developer knee deep in this panel for a considerable portion of their day.

Considering how regularly Dev Tools gets updated, there’s still some excellent and quite up to date documentation on the official Dev Tools documentation page. I’ve also written a few for Nettuts+, which can be found on my author page.

The Need For Better Workflow

So what exactly are we trying to solve here? Let’s review an example of debugging some Sass-generated CSS. Given the .scss file, which contains:

$myColor: green;
    
    body {
    	.box {
    		color: $myColor;
    	}
    }
    

The CSS generated by Sass will look similar to this:

body .box {
      color: green; }
    

<div class="box">Hello</div>
    

Okay, so far so good; now I want to begin designing and developing my page using Chrome Dev Tools. I can inspect the div with a class of box by right-clicking on it, and selecting Inspect Element. Check out the styles pane, which shows the green value on the color property and a note on the file name that it’s contained within, along with the line number that the selector appears. Here’s where the problem lies: the processed CSS does not follow line for line what the source .scss file looks like. As you can imagine, this can have a negative impact on our development workflow.

In the screenshot above, the left pane shows a source .scss file, and the right side displays the processed version. (Note: I’m using the SCSS bundle for syntax highlighting in Sublime Text.)

Dev Tools then provides a link to the file and line number of the selector (highlighted in red above), which, unsurprisingly, links to the processed file (see image below). This now serves as a limitation for editing the file, as we can’t benefit from file saving for example (if we persist changes to the processed file, they’ll be overwritten as soon as Sass compiles again).

In fact, we don’t even have a clear indication of what the corresponding line number is. Of course, practically speaking, in the above example, it would be simple for us to work out which line maps to what, by looking at the code; however, in a larger application, things can get much trickier.

As you can see above, Developer Tools has no understanding of our .scss file. (Luckily, we can fix this, as you’ll see shortly.) To summarize, a lack of Sass support in developer tools could mean:

• We don’t immediately know the line number a selector and/or CSS property exists on within our source file.
• Persisting CSS changes to the file system is out of the question.
• Even viewing the .scss file in the sources panel can be difficult, as Developer Tools doesn’t recognize that extension as one that should be viewed.

Preparing for Sass Support

Chrome

Important: Sass support is an experimental feature. Please keep in mind that, while it has been around for a while now, things may change. If they do, we’ll do our best to update this article, accordingly.

Navigate to chrome://flags/ in the omnibox and find “Enable Developer Tools experiments.” Enable it and restart Chrome.

The image below reveals an experiments panel. You can reach this by clicking on the cogwheel at the bottom-right corner of Developer Tools, and clicking “Experiments.” Then, check the box for “Support for Sass.”

Now there’s no need to close the settings window; just go to the General menu item in the left sidebar of the settings window, and navigate to the Sources section. From there, check “Enable source maps” and “Auto-reload CSS upon Sass save.” The timeout can be left at the default value.

Sass

This tutorial uses the latest version of Sass (3.3.0, at the time of this writing), as there is some initial support for source maps. Install it through Rubygems:

gem install sass --pre
    

We next need to instruct Sass to compile our .scss files. Here’s a command that can be used:

sass --watch --debug-info --scss --sourcemap styles.scss:styles.css
    

This specifies that styles.scss is your source file, and styles.css is your designated name for the processed file that will be used for production.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
    

If you see something similar to the image below…

…and you see a generated .map file, along with a bunch of funny looking CSS, then, congratulations: Sass debugging is working! Here’s what those other command options are doing:

• –watch: Watch for changes of the source .scss file, and compile, accordingly.
• –debug-info: Output debug information to the .css file, for debuggers.
• –scss: Specifies the style of Sass that we’re using.
• –sourcemap: Generate corresponding source map files.

Tip: An understanding of source maps isn’t critical for following along with this tutorial; however, it’s certainly something worth reading about, as it’s intended to help the development process. To learn more, read Introduction to JavaScript Source Maps on HTML5Rocks, and Source Maps 101 on Nettuts+.

From Elements to Sources

Assuming all went as expected, open the page in Dev Tools, where Sass support is enabled, should allow for Sass debugging. The first thing to note is that the filename will show the corresponding .scss source file, which is certainly useful. More importantly, though, the line number correctly reflects the line number in our source file!

Clicking on the filename will take you right to the sources panel with the line corresponding to the selector in question highlighted. Note that you now have a viewable Sass file right in your browser with syntax highlighting!

So finding the corresponding CSS selector from the Elements panel is a welcomed addition, but what about CSS properties?

In the screenshot below, the Sources panel has highlighted the CSS property that I was interested in. To get there, Command + Click on the property from within the Elements panel. The fact that it has taken me to the line where the value was defined (rather than the line: property: $value;) is incredibly powerful!

Please note that navigating to a CSS property in the sources panel, via a command + click, is not specific to Sass. It can be achieved with regular CSS too.

Sass Editing With Persistence

The process of editing Sass files is a bit different from vanilla CSS files. One thing that we’ll need to do is ensure that Dev Tools knows where the .scss file is located on our file system. From within the Sources panel, the left hand sidebar should have a Sources pane that displays the .scss file. Right-click and choose “Save As.” Then, overwrite the existing .scss source file.

Because we checked “Auto-reload CSS upon Sass save,” and because Sass is running in the terminal with the --watch flag, any changes that we make will be reflected in the browser quickly!

Even mixins will work as expected. Pasting the following mixin into a nearly empty .scss file within the sources panel results in the correct CSS being generated. Once compiled, Developer Tools will reload the view instantly.

@mixin button {
        border: 2px solid green;
        display: inline-block;
        padding: 10px;
        border-radius: 4px;    
    }
    
    .box {
        @include button;   
    }
    

Less Debugging

Not less, as in fewer… Less, as in the stylesheet language! Work has been done to help with Less debugging; Rob Dodson recently published a great article on this very thing. Be sure to give it a read, if LESS is your preference: Debug LESS With Chrome Developer Tools.

Summary

To summarize:

• Support is not enabled by default; check the boxes as mentioned above in both chrome://flags/ and Developer Tools.
• Chrome Canary and the latest version of Sass (3.3.0) (due to Source maps) were used in this tutorial.
• Viewing processed CSS in the Dev Tools isn’t extremely useful, as you can’t benefit from editing capabilities, and the line numbers are unlikely to match the source file.
• CSS properties in the elements panel can be command-clicked. The file name displayed to the right of the selector is also clickable. Both direct you to the relevant portion in the sources panel.
• Use the Sources panel editing capabilities by doing a “Save as” on the .scss file. Future saves (command + s) should overwrite the file.
• Less support is limited, but will hopefully improve soon!

Additional Learning

The development workflow with Sass/Less is not perfect, but it’s certainly a lot better than what it used to be! As time goes on, Dev Tools will provide a more streamlined workflow for editing CSS files, and bugs will of course be fixed. Any issue that you might come across may be raised as a bug at crbug.com.

To continue your learning:

• Debug LESS With Chrome Developer Tools by Rob Dodson
• Changeset: Web Inspector: SASS source mapping
• The Breakpoint Ep. 2 (3 minutes in)
• Using Sass source maps in WebKit Inspector – On bricss.net
• Debugging Sass with Source Maps – By @Snugug

AASHE’s Presidential Voices interview series features conversations with heads of higher education institutions who are inspiring sustainability leaders. To recommend a president or chancellor for this series, contact Judy Walton, chief publications officer, at judy@aashe.org.

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman College President since 2002, is our guest for this interview. Spelman is America's oldest historically Black college for women, and a leading liberal arts institution. It has been recognized for its environmental efforts with a Green Key Award from the U.S. EPA. In 2010, Dr. Tatum signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Most recently, she spearheaded a Wellness Revolution at the college to empower and educate Spelman women on the value of lifelong wellness as a means of building strong, sustainable communities. Dr. Tatum is a member of the President’s Board of Advisors to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She earned a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. She also holds an M.A. in religious studies from Hartford Seminary.

Judy Walton: Why is sustainability important to Spelman, and how does it fit the college’s overall mission and tagline, “A Choice to Change the World?”

Beverly Tatum: Sustainability should be important to everyone because it’s essential to the viability of the planet on which we live. It was listed as a key priority in my 2007 convocation talk, and sustainability goals are incorporated into Spelman’s Strategic Plan for 2015. Sustainability is also listed up front on our About Us page.

When we talk about the mission of Spelman, we talk about preparing young women to be leaders; we talk about educating the whole person—mind, body, and spirit—developing her intellectual, academic and ethical leadership potential. You can’t talk about ethics without talking about responsibility, and you can’t talk about responsibility, in a holistic way, without talking about responsibility for the environment of which we are a part. So when we think about preparing students for the future --preparing them to be ethical leaders – certainly an awareness of sustainability is critical and an important part of what we mean when we say, “A Choice to Change the World.”

As I have said in other contexts, we are changing the world all the time, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. We’re not always conscious of the way we’re changing the world, but each of us in our daily interactions is making an impact. When we think about our environmental impact we want to be conscious of this in order to be good stewards of the planet on which we live and to make sure that the change we’re making is a positive one as opposed to one that’s detrimental to the long- term health of ourselves and those we care about.

JW: What key initiatives have led to Spelman’s recognition as a sustainability leader among HBCUs?

BT: We talk about sustainability at Spelman in the context of three areas of focus: One is traditional environmental sustainability. The second is personal sustainability, which has to do with our own personal health and wellness. The third focus area is communal sustainability -- the health and well-being of our campus as an institution. Each focus area has an initiative associated with it on our campus.

When we talk about environmental sustainability, we highlight Spelman’s Climate Action Plan and its status as a signatory of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. As part of this commitment, we’ve set a target date for achieving carbon neutrality – we chose the year 2056, which is the 175th anniversary of the College.

We’re also committed to building green. In 2008, The Suites residence hall opened – the first-ever LEED Silver certified residence hall at a historically Black college or university. That commitment has been strengthened by a policy adopted by our board of trustees in 2010 stating that all new construction and renovations will be completed at no less than LEED Silver standards. The renovation of Laura Spelman Rockefeller Hall concluded in the fall of 2012 and we’re delighted that it has received LEED Gold certification. In support of our Wellness Revolution, we are planning a new project – Read Hall, which will of course be completed using LEED standards.

Also under the environmental sustainability umbrella we include curricular innovation and research. Along with everyday opportunities for conservation, we want to provide curriculum to further integrate sustainability across courses and disciplines with the goal of graduating empowered women who embody all three dimensions of Sustainable Spelman. We have faculty and staff Green Leaders who are working on environmental and sustainability solutions regionally, nationally and globally.

When we speak about personal sustainability we highlight our sustainability pledge as well as our Wellness Revolution and all it represents. Whether we’re talking about stroke, heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, or HIV/AIDS, all these illnesses disproportionately impact Black woman. However, with changes in our diet, behavior, exercise and stress reduction, we can positively impact the current statistics. But we have to be knowledgeable about how to make those changes. Through the Wellness Revolution, we aim to educate the Spelman community on how to start and sustain healthy habits for life-long wellness.

Through communal sustainability we aim to make sure that Spelman College as an institution remains viable for many years. This requires all of us to abide by our standards of excellence which are captured by what we call the 3 C’s: civility, commitment, and consistency in excellence and performance.

JW: AASHE Bulletin recently featured Spelman’s plan to eliminate intercollegiate athletics in order to dedicate resources to a campus-wide fitness/wellness initiative. What was behind this decision, and how do fitness and wellness relate to sustainability?

BT: As I mentioned, personal sustainability is a key priority here at Spelman. When we decided to discontinue our participation in intercollegiate athletics in May 2013, we were not rejecting sports, or even competition -- just the limited benefit that our NCAA participation offered a few student athletes in favor of a program of activity that would support lifelong fitness for all 2,100 of our students.
The intent of our wellness program is to transition our students from high school sports to lifelong fitness. Just as we develop habits of the mind – such as critical-thinking skills that will be used for a lifetime -- we want to develop habits of the body that will support healthy and sustainable living for a lifetime.

If the health status of African-American women is an indicator of the health status of blacks living in America, the news is not good. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 44 percent of Black women over age 20 have high blood pressure, and Black women are more likely to suffer from ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer and stroke and to die from them early in comparison to women of other ethnicities. All of these illnesses are linked to obesity and lack of physical activity.

Given these statistics, the need for a Wellness Revolution at Spelman is urgent, because it is our population -- young black women -- that is among the most at risk for negative health outcomes. Committed to educating the whole person - mind, body and spirit - we have an opportunity to change the health trajectory of the young women we serve. We are taking this opportunity seriously through the development of a creative wellness program. Wellness and societal sustainability go hand-in-hand.

JW: As a leader of one of the premier HBCUs, and a 2005 recipient of the prestigious Brock International Prize in Education, what strategies do you recommend to make campus sustainability a more diverse, inclusive movement?

BT: At Spelman we are leading by example and certainly we take pride in the various presentations that members of our campus community have given at professional events, national conferences and in the media. Along with Art Frazier, our director of facilities (who presented at AASHE 2012), we also have faculty members like Fatemeh Shafiei, chair and associate professor of political science and Jerry Wever, assistant professor of anthropology, who provide insight on the various sustainability efforts at Spelman to the broader community. Through these opportunities and others, such as our student Green Ambassadors, we have been able to tell the Spelman story in a way that we hope inspires others.

JW: How is Spelman tracking its sustainability progress?

BT: Our Climate Action Plan that I described earlier contains benchmarks and timetables, and includes a completed STARS checklist detailing our progress. For personal sustainability, we’re tracking participation in healthy living behaviors such as exercise. As part of our wellness program, our wellness coordinator tracks student, faculty and staff participation. When asked what will be the measure of success for our wellness program, I like to say, “when we have a culture of movement at Spelman College.”

JW: As an institutional leader, what are your biggest challenges in advancing sustainability initiatives?

BT: As at many institutions, two of the biggest challenges to advancing initiatives are limited resources and complacency. When advocating for any initiative, securing resources can be a challenge and that has to do with being in a tough economy. Our primary responsibility is to ensure that we’re able to deliver stellar academic programs and keep students in school, which requires scholarship support for most of them. Regarding complacency, we have to work diligently to ensure that everyone understands why it’s so important to mobilize and be actively engaged, in both supporting and promoting sustainability.

JW: What would you like to accomplish next in terms of sustainability at Spelman?

BT: As it relates to environmental sustainability, the first major milestone is our Climate Action Plan, which I described earlier. Now that we have a plan, we need to follow it. As relates to personal sustainability, we are focused on the Wellness Revolution (which I also described earlier) and creating the physical space needed to fully implement the vision for the program. That involves the completion of Read Hall using LEED standards. We are actively engaged in raising funds for that project. Regarding communal sustainability, we will continue to educate the community about the importance of the 3 C’s at Spelman and what each of us can do to ensure the long term health of our institution.

JW: How do you spend your free time?

BT: I like to exercise, read, and focus on my personal sustainability. I also enjoy time alone and time with my family.