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Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
What is CSS?
2.1.
Selectors in CSS
2.2.
Properties in CSS
2.2.1.
Text Properties: 
2.2.2.
Box Properties:  
2.2.3.
Table Properties: 
2.2.4.
Border Properties: 
2.2.5.
Background Properties: 
2.2.6.
List Properties:  
2.3.
Values in CSS
2.3.1.
Keywords: 
2.3.2.
Lengths: 
2.3.3.
Colors: 
2.3.4.
URLs: 
3.
Advantages of CSS
3.1.
Ease
3.2.
Efficiency
4.
Disadvantages of CSS
4.1.
No built-in variable and performance issue 
4.2.
Challenging 
5.
What is SCSS?
5.1.
Variables
5.2.
Nesting
5.2.1.
This feature allows the users to work with CSS in an organized manner.
5.3.
Mixins
5.3.1.
This feature makes it easier for the users to apply the same styles to multiple elements and allows them to reuse CSS properties throughout the spreadsheet.   
6.
Advantages of SCSS
6.1.
Updated feature
6.2.
Easiness 
7.
Disadvantages of SCSS
7.1.
Complicated and Compatibility issues 
7.2.
Tough to learn 
8.
Key Points to Compare SCSS vs CSS
8.1.
1. Syntax and Features
8.2.
2. Variables
8.3.
3. Nesting
8.4.
4. Mixins
8.5.
5. Partials and Importing
8.6.
6. Inheritance (Extend)
8.7.
7. Functions
8.8.
8. Browser Compatibility
8.9.
9. Learning Curve
8.10.
10. Tooling and Integration
9.
Head to Head difference between CSS and SCSS
10.
Frequently Asked Questions
10.1.
What are the benefits of SCSS over CSS?
10.2.
Is SCSS slower than CSS?
10.3.
Is SCSS a CSS file?
11.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Sep 5, 2024
Easy

Difference Between CSS and SCSS

Author Anusha Raghav
1 upvote

Introduction

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a standard styling language used to design web pages, controlling layout, colors, fonts, and more. SCSS (Sassy CSS) is a superset of CSS, part of the Sass preprocessor, offering advanced features like variables, nesting, and mixins that make styling more efficient and maintainable. While CSS is straightforward and widely used, SCSS extends its functionality, which allows for more dynamic and modular code thus making it a popular choice for modern web development.

difference between css and scss

This article will discuss the difference between CSS and SCSS. Let's start with understanding what CSS and SCSS are and their advantages and disadvantages.

What is CSS?

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a scripting language used to create and design web pages. It is used along with HTML and JavaScript to create websites.

CSS makes it easier for developers to maintain and update a website by separating its presentation from its structure. It allows the developers to create visual rules that define how the web page should look.

what is CSS

CSS is an essential part of modern web design and development. It offers developers powerful tools to change a website's visual appearance. It allows responsive web design and layout techniques that make websites user-friendly and appealing on all devices. CSS consists of selectors, values, and properties that add style to a document's elements. Let us first understand what selectors, values, and properties in CSS are -

Selectors in CSS

Selectors in CSS are used to identify and style the elements on a page. Several types of selectors in CSS fulfill different purposes. For example, class selectors, tag selectors, etc. 

We use tag selectors to apply the style to a selected element, whereas class selectors apply styles to a specified group of elements. 

Properties in CSS

In this section of the article, Difference Between CSS and SCSS, we will learn about properties in CSS. The properties in CSS are used to control or change a website's color, layout, border, and other visual aspects. Some of the properties used in CSS are categorized and defined as follows - 

Text Properties

These properties are used to change the appearance of text inside an element. 
For example - size, font, and color. 

Box Properties:  

These properties are used to change the size and layout of the element.

For example - height, margin, and width.

Table Properties

These properties are used to modify the tables' appearance. 

For example - Border spacing. 

Border Properties

These properties are used to modify the appearance of the border of an element. 
For example - the color of the border.

Background Properties

These properties are used to modify the background of an element. 
For example - the background image or color of the background.

List Properties:  

These properties are used to change the appearance of the lists. 
For example - the position of the list.

CSS has numerous other properties like the gridposition, display, etc., which are different from each other and are applied to various elements for different purposes. 

properties of cascading style sheets

Values in CSS

Values in CSS are used for specifying the properties of an element. There are several types of values, such as keywords, lengths, colors, URLs, etc. 
Lets us understand what each of these values specifies - 
 

Keywords

The keywords are predefined words that have a specific meaning in CSS. 
For example - for the property "color," we use "blue" as a keyword.

Lengths

These are numerical values that specify the lengths or size of an element. 
For example - "5cm." 

Colors

These values are used to specify a color with the help of keywords. 

URLs

The URLs are values that refer to links to external resources, for example, an image.
 

Apart from these fundamental values, we have additional value types that are advanced and used for complex styling. 
For example - animations and transitions
 Let's see the below CSS code -:

body {
  background-color: white;
  font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
}

h1 {
  color: blue;
  text-align: center;
}

.container {
  width: 80%;
  margin: 0 auto;
}


We save the CSS files with the .css file extension.

Advantages of CSS

Let us now see some advantages of CSS.

Ease

  • CSS makes it easier for users to maintain and update their websites.
  • CSS separates the website from its structure and content.

Efficiency

  • CSS is efficient as we can reuse the styles throughout the website.
  • CSS offers browser compatibility by ensuring that the website looks the same everywhere and that all browsers support it.
  • CSS has advanced features that allow developers to create accessible websites.
  • CSS offers design flexibility that allows users to create engaging websites by adding features such as layouts and animation.

Disadvantages of CSS

Now, let us discuss some disadvantages of CSS.

No built-in variable and performance issue 

  • Managing and updating similar styles in CSS can be challenging as CSS doesn't have built-in variables.
  • If we don't write decent CSS code, it can affect the website's performance.

Challenging 

  • Even though CSS is compatible with all browsers, the way the browsers display CSS can be different.
  • Using CSS for heavy websites can be challenging to manage.
  • CSS is not user-friendly and can be challenging for users without prior knowledge of web development.

What is SCSS?

In this section of the article, Difference Between CSS and SCSS, we will understand what SCSS is. SCSS stands for Sassy CSS. It is a scripting language and a CSS preprocessor that adds extra features to standard CSS, like nested rules, variables, and mixins.
 SCSS also includes functions and operations that let users perform mathematical calculations on values, such as adding or subtracting values. Also, SCSS and CSS follow the same syntax.
Let's find out the use of each of these additional features - 

Variables

This feature allows the users to store values like font size and color throughout the spreadsheet.

Nesting

This feature allows the users to work with CSS in an organized manner.

Mixins

This feature makes it easier for the users to apply the same styles to multiple elements and allows them to reuse CSS properties throughout the spreadsheet.  
 

SCSS is a powerful tool that makes it easier for developers to make changes to their spreadsheets and to write reusable and easy-to-read codes. Let us now see the SCSS code:

$main-font: Arial, sans-serif;

body {
  background-color: white;
  font-family: $main-font;
}

h1 {
  color: blue;
  text-align: center;
}

.container {
  width: 80%;
  margin: 0 auto;
}
 


We save the SCSS files with the .scss file extension.

What is SCSS

Advantages of SCSS

In this section of the blog, we will see what the major advantages of the SCSS are.

Updated feature

  • In SCSS, users can split their stylesheets to make them manageable and handy, which makes importing and compressing them into a single CSS file easier.  
  • The nesting feature in SCSS allows the users to nest CSS selectors within each other and to work with CSS in an organized manner.

Easiness 

  • SCSS makes it easier for the developers to maintain and update CSS and offers to store and reuse the values throughout their spreadsheets.
  • SCSS makes it easier for the users to apply the same styles to multiple elements and allows them to reuse CSS properties throughout the spreadsheet.

Disadvantages of SCSS

Now let us see some disadvantages of SCSS.

Complicated and Compatibility issues 

  • SCSS requires additional setup and configuration, which may complicate a user's workflow.
  • SCSS is not compatible with all browsers.
  • SCSS is not user-friendly and can be challenging for users as it requires them to learn new concepts.

Tough to learn 

  • Before employing this preprocessor, the developer must spend enough time understanding about its new features.
  • Prior knowledge of the concepts related to CSS is advised to avoid writing complex codes. 

Key Points to Compare SCSS vs CSS

1. Syntax and Features

  • CSS: Uses a straightforward syntax with selectors, properties, and values.
     
  • SCSS: A superset of CSS3's syntax, allowing variables, nesting, mixins, and more.

2. Variables

  • CSS: Does not support variables; values must be repeated manually.
     
  • SCSS: Supports variables (e.g., $color-primary: #3498db;) for reusable values.

3. Nesting

  • CSS: Selectors remain flat; nesting is not supported.
     
  • SCSS: Allows nesting of selectors (nav { ul { ... } }), improving readability.

4. Mixins

  • CSS: No native support for reusable code snippets.
     
  • SCSS: Supports mixins (e.g., @mixin border-radius($radius) { ... }) for reusable CSS patterns.

5. Partials and Importing

  • CSS: Each file is separate; no concept of modularization.
     
  • SCSS: Supports partials (_filename.scss) and @import for modular CSS organization.

6. Inheritance (Extend)

  • CSS: Limited to selector duplication for reuse.
     
  • SCSS: Supports @extend to inherit styles between selectors.

7. Functions

  • CSS: Limited built-in functions (e.g., rgb(), calc()).
     
  • SCSS: Extends CSS with additional functions (e.g., darken(), lighten()).

8. Browser Compatibility

  • CSS: Widely supported by all browsers.
     
  • SCSS: Needs compilation into CSS before browsers can interpret it.

9. Learning Curve

  • CSS: Simple and widely understood syntax.
     
  • SCSS: Requires learning additional features and compilation process but enhances productivity.

10. Tooling and Integration

  • CSS: Directly usable in HTML.
     
  • SCSS: Requires tools like Sass or compilers for preprocessing into CSS.

Head to Head difference between CSS and SCSS

CSS and SCSS are languages used for styling web pages, but they have distinct features that make them different. Let's take a look at these differences  - 

CSSSCSS
It is a styling language used to apply styles to HTML elements.It is a preprocessor language that extends the pre-existing features of CSS.
We can not use variables in CSS; we must manually change the property's value throughout the code multiple times.In SCSS, we can define variables that allow us to store and reuse a value throughout the spreadsheet.  
Updating styles in CSS can be complex. Updating styles throughout the web pages is easier in SCSS. 
In CSS, we have to write different separators for each element we want to style, making the code complex and challenging to understand.  In SCSS, we use nesting for nesting the selectors, which allows the users to write easy-to-read and organized codes.  
We do not have mixin support in CSS.We have mixin support in SCSS.
We save CSS files with a .css file extension.We save SCSS files with the .scss file extension.
We usually use CSS with languages like HTML and JavaScript.We usually use SCSS with languages like Ruby.

Check this out, Difference Between Compiler and Interpreter and Assembler

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of SCSS over CSS?

SCSS offers variables, nesting and functions which enables more efficient and maintainable code compared to plain CSS.

Is SCSS slower than CSS?

SCSS requires preprocessing, which adds a slight overhead, but the compiled CSS runs at the same speed as regular CSS.

Is SCSS a CSS file?

SCSS is not a CSS file, it's a preprocessor syntax that compiles into standard CSS for use in web development.

Conclusion

This article discussed the difference between CSS and SCSS, what CSS and SCSS are, and their advantages and disadvantages. If you want to dig deeper into the field of web design, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, here are some related articles:

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