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The quickest way to start using Sass is with the command line. In this video, we'll cover a few commands for installing—and updating—Sass on your computer.
Video Update
The version of Sass built with Ruby has been deprecated. It is recommended that you use the Sass version built with Dart instead. All of the Sass commands and style rules shown throughout the course will remain the same in Dart Sass!
Installing Dart Sass
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Before we install Sass,
0:00
let's go over a few misconceptions we
might have about using Sass.
0:01
So, the first one might be, there's no
point in attempting Sass
0:05
unless you've had experience with the
console, Git and Ruby.
0:09
Or we may think that to use Sass,
0:13
we'll need to know a ton of commands to
make everything work.
0:15
And Sass steers too far from CSS, we have
to learn a new language.
0:18
Well first, if you think you'll need to
know Ruby to install and use Sass,
0:23
don't worry because you don't.
0:26
Hey, I'm not even close to being a
Rubyist.
0:28
And we'll just need to know a few friendly
commands to get up and running.
0:30
It won't be scary, I promise, and
0:34
finally, since Sass is a subset of CSS,
it's not a new language.
0:36
We don't even need to use Sass syntax if
we don't want to.
0:40
Writing plain CSS is actually writing
valid Sass.
0:43
Yes, it is an extra layer of obstruction
we're adding to our workflow, but
0:47
it's a powerful layer that, like I said,
makes writing CSS more efficient, cleaner,
0:50
maintainable, and most of all, fun.
0:55
Sass lives and works locally on our
machine, so
0:58
we really can't do anything just yet until
we have Sass installed on our computers.
1:02
Since Sass is a Ruby gem,
1:06
we'll need to have Ruby installed on our
machine in order to install Sass.
1:08
But, as I mentioned earlier,
1:13
don't worry because we don't need to know
any Ruby to install and use Sass.
1:14
And if you're working on a Mac, chances
are, you already have Ruby installed.
1:19
Now, it may sound a little nerve-racking,
but
1:23
honestly, the quickest way to start using
Sass is with the command line.
1:26
So, first things first, since I'm on a
Mac, I'll need to bring up Terminal, and
1:30
that's where we'll write our commands.
1:34
So on the Mac, the Terminal app comes
installed by default, and
1:36
it's located in our Utilities folder.
1:39
And don't worry if you're running Windows
machine.
1:43
I've posted the windows installation
instructions in the teacher's notes.
1:45
They're very similar.
1:48
Next, inside Terminal, or in your Command
Prompt, we'll install Sass by
1:50
writing the command gem install sass, then
hit Enter.
1:55
Now this command goes out and fetches the
latest version of Sass and
2:02
installs it on our computer.
2:06
Now, if we get an error message after
running this command,
2:09
it will likely be a permissions error.
2:12
For example, here we're getting an error
that says,
2:14
you don't have write permissions for the
Ruby/Gems directory.
2:17
Now if we see this error,
2:21
we'll need to use the command sudo gem
install sass instead.
2:23
[SOUND] Sudo allows us to run the
installation without the permission
2:29
problems.
2:33
It sort of puts us in a super user mode to
get around permission issues.
2:34
Now it does ask us to enter our password
to confirm the installation.
2:38
And this will usually be your user account
login password.
2:43
And once we do that, it grants us the
permissions to install and run Sass.
2:47
[SOUND]
2:51
[BLANK_AUDIO]
2:53
All right, so now let's make sure that we
have Sass installed on our computer.
2:55
And we can do that by typing the command
sass -v.
3:00
[SOUND] And once we hit Enter, if all goes
well,
3:05
this returns the version of Sass we've
installed.
3:08
In this case, it's Sass 3.4.13, Selective
Steve.
3:11
Now your version might be different,
3:18
most likely a higher version compared to
the version at the time of this recording.
3:20
And that's okay.
3:24
That just means you have the very latest
version of Sass installed.
3:25
All right, so it looks like we're all set
with our installation.
3:29
But what if we only need to update to the
latest version of Sass?
3:33
Let's say you've already installed Sass in
the past, and
3:37
now you just need to update it.
3:40
Well, to do that, we'll need to type the
command, gem update sass.
3:42
[SOUND] And again, if you get any
permissions errors doing this,
3:48
you'll need to run it under sudo.
3:53
So, with update command, we'll be all up
to date.
3:55
Now, we just did a fresh install, so
there's nothing to update at the moment.
3:58
Finally, if you wanna be on the bleeding
edge and
4:03
start using the Sass features of tomorrow,
today, take a look at how you can install
4:06
the pre-released version of Sass in the
teacher's notes.
4:10
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