Compass and SASS or Less and?

Question

I understand what Less offers me with CSS and I also looked at the twitter bootstrap product. But can someone explain how these compare to Compass and SASS. I really only understand what SASS is right now. How about Compass, what does that do for me.

I'm working on a Windows platform with ASP MVC3(4). Can I use Compass and SASS on that platform also?

Answer 1

SASS and LESS are basically the same; the ability to use variables and mixins etc, and then compile that to normal css.

Twitter Bootstrap is a css framework (including some javascript plugins) with all kinds of different styles to get you up and running quickly by defining grids, typography etc. It does offer some LESS files, but that has nothing to do with LESS itself.

Compass is more of a framework that kind of combines the above. It uses SASS with a lot more helper functions than what SASS and LESS offer themselves. It also includes a similar css framework to Twitter Bootstrap named Blueprint.

With tons of functions, I'm definately going to be using Compass for all my upcoming projects.
It's also very well documented! http://compass-style.org/reference/compass/

And about .NET/MVC3 support, take a look here: http://thedevstop.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/integrating-the-compass-css-framework-into-visual-studio/
I haven't tried it myself yet, but it seems like the best solution I've seen so far.

TL;DR
I'd say Compass is the way to go!

Answer 2

Twitter's Bootstrap framework is quite popular and is based on LESS. I checked its github repo, and it appears to have at least twice the activity of that of Compass, and more people favoriting the project. Just something to be aware of, you'll most likely be OK with whatever you pick, both seem very solid.