Why Refactor?

Codebase was a mess

@import "form_add-cc.less";
@import "form_create-case.less";
@import "form_create-contact.less";
@import "form_modal_create-contact.less";
@import "form_create-solution.less";
@import "form_edit-case.less";
@import "form_edit-contact.less";
@import "form_edit-employee.less";
@import "form_edit-site.less";
@import "form_edit-solution.less";

.cc-listing .alert {
  padding: 4px 35px 4px 14px;
}

.add-cc-form .contact-picker .contact-input-control {
  margin-left: 0px;
}

form_add-cc.less

form_create-case.less

div.contact-input-control {
  padding-bottom: 12px;
  .pick-contact {
    width: 100%;
    margin-bottom: 0;
  }
}

div.site-input-control {
  padding-bottom: 25px;
  .pick-site {
    margin-bottom: -10px;
  }
}

.content-row{
  margin-bottom: @baseLineHeight;
  padding-top: @baseLineHeight;
  position: relative;
}

solution-description.less

.nav-header {
  // 28 lines
  &:hover {
    .badge{
      background-color: @grayDarker;
      color: @grayLight;
      //right: 14px;
    }
  }
  .badge{
    .badge-gray();
    background-color: darken(@grayLight, 5%);
    top:6px;
  }
  &.active{
  // 8 lines
  .badge{
    background-color: @blue;
    color: @grayLight;
  }
}
// 12 lines
.nav-header {
  a.due-soon-navbadge{
    // 13 lines
    .badge{
    background: @grayDarker;
    top: 18px;
    color: @grayLight;
    }
    &:hover{
      background-color: @blue;
      color: @white;
      .badge{background-color: @white; color: @blue;}
      text-shadow: none;
      i{text-shadow: none;}
    }
  }
}
// At bottom
.badge{
  .badge-gray();
  background-color: darken(@grayLight, 5%);
  text-indent: 0;
}

.toolbar-wrapper{
  line-height: 10px;
  color: @grayDark;
  background-color: @white;
  float: right;
  margin-left: 15px;
  margin-bottom: 15px;	
  margin-top:-25px;
  margin-right: -25px;
  //...
}

mixins.less

• We used to have bootstrap and our styles build into one stylesheet. Why split them?
• IE9 is smart

Summary

• Code organization was terrible (hard to find rules you wanted to)
• Rules were all over the place (hard to find which rule you cared about in your specific situation)
• Specificity wars galore

Object Oriented CSS

OOCSS History

• Created by Nicole Sullivan in 2009
• Claim to fame was helping Facebook go on a stylesheet diet (19% less css, 44% less html, 50% gain in loading performance)
• Challenges css "best-practices"
  • Use specificity
  • Create modules

OOCSS Goals

• Code reuse
• Easy dev introduction
• Robust

OOCSS Principles

• Separate Structure & Skin
• Separate Content & Container

Structure vs Skin

.notification-info {
  border: 1px solid black;
  height: 200px;
  width: 400px;
  background: blue;
  color: black;
}

.popup-red {
  border: 1px solid black;
  height: 200px;
  width: 400px;
  background: red;
  color: white;
}

.box-narrow {
  border: 1px solid black;
  height: 200px;
  width: 200px;

  &.red {
    background: red;
    color: white;
  }

  .blue {
    background: blue;
    color: black;
  }
}

<div class="box box-wide box-red"></div>

<div class="box box-narrow box-info"></div>

Content vs Container

.nav-header {
  // 28 lines
  &:hover {
    .badge{
      background-color: @grayDarker;
      color: @grayLight;
      //right: 14px;
    }
  }
  .badge{
    .badge-gray();
    background-color: darken(@grayLight, 5%);
    top:6px;
  }
  &.active{
  // 8 lines
  .badge{
    background-color: @blue;
    color: @grayLight;
  }
}
// 12 lines
.nav-header {
  a.due-soon-navbadge{
    // 13 lines
    .badge{
    background: @grayDarker;
    top: 18px;
    color: @grayLight;
    }
    &:hover{
      background-color: @blue;
      color: @white;
      .badge{background-color: @white; color: @blue;}
      text-shadow: none;
      i{text-shadow: none;}
    }
  }
}
// At bottom
.badge{
  .badge-gray();
  background-color: darken(@grayLight, 5%);
  text-indent: 0;
}

Practical Application

• Identify common elements
• Think in terms of structure and skin, not in modules
• Don't be afraid to have many classes on an element

.a5-card {
  .border-box;
  display: block;
  height: 190px;
  max-height: 190px;
  max-width: 33%;
  min-height: 190px;
  min-width: 32%;
}

.a5-card-small:extend(.a5-card) {
  height: 120px;
  max-height: 120px;
  min-height: 120px;
}

.a5-card-med:extend(.a5-card) {
  height: 150px;
  max-height: 150px;
  min-height: 150px;
}

.a5-card-full-width:extend(a5-card) {
  min-height: 20px;
  min-width: 95%;
}

Naming is Hard

Enabling Customization

// Agent 5 Variables
// ------------------------------
// Colors
@grayLightest:          #f9f9f7;
@grayBorder:            #c3c3c3;

@greenDarkest:          #368959;
@greenLight:            #74cf9b;
@greenLightest:         #b1f4ce;

variables.less