PostCSS

PostCSS is a software development tool that uses JavaScript-based plugins to automate routine CSS operations.[4] It was designed by Andrey Sitnik with the idea taking its origin in his front-end work for Evil Martians.[5]

PostCSS
Developer(s)Andrey Sitnik, Ben Briggs, Bogdan Chadkin[1]
Initial releaseNovember 4, 2013 (2013-11-04)
Stable release
8.0.0, President Ose / September 15, 2020 (2020-09-15)[2]
Repositorygithub.com/postcss/postcss
Written inJavaScript
Operating systemCross-platform
Available inEnglish
TypeCSS development tool
LicenseMIT License[3]
Websitepostcss.org

Functionality
PostCSS workflow

PostCSS is a framework to develop CSS tools.[6] It can be used to develop a template language such as Sass and LESS.[7]

The PostCSS core consists of:[8]

  • CSS parser that generates an abstract syntax tree
  • Set of classes that comprises the tree
  • CSS generator that generates a CSS line for the object tree
  • Code map generator for the CSS changes made

Features are made available through plugins. The plugins are small programs working with the object tree. After the core has transformed a CSS string into an object tree, the plugins analyze and change the tree. Then PostCSS generates a new CSS string for the plugin-changed tree.

PostCSS and its plugins are written in JavaScript and distributed through npm, which offer APIs for low-level JavaScript operations.

There are official tools making it possible to use PostCSS with build systems such as Webpack,[9] Gulp,[10] and Grunt.[11] There is also a console interface available.[12] Browserify or Webpack can be used to open PostCSS in a browser.[13]

Syntaxes

PostCSS allows changing the parser and generator. In this case, PostCSS could be used to work with the Less[14] and SCSS[15] sources. However, PostCSS on its own cannot compile Sass or Less to CSS. What it does is change the original files — for instance, by sorting the CSS properties or checking the code for mistakes. PostCSS supports SugarSS.

Plugins

PostCSS plugins perform different CSS processing tasks ranging from analysis and properties sorting to minification.

The complete plugin list can be found on postcss.parts, with some examples listed below.

  • Autoprefixer to add and clear browser prefixes.[16]
  • CSS Modules to get CSS selectors isolated and code organized. It is supplied as part of Webpack.[17][18]
  • stylelint to analyze CSS code for mistakes and check style consistency.[19]
  • stylefmt fixes the CSS code according to the stylelint settings.[20]
  • PreCSS to perform some Sass/Less preprocessing functions.[21]
  • postcss-preset-env to emulate features from unfinished CSS specification drafts.[22]
  • cssnano to make CSS smaller in size by getting rid of the spaces and rewriting the code.[23]
  • RTLCSS to change CSS code so that the design should be suitable for right-to-left writing (such is applied in Arabic and Hebrew).[24]
  • postcss-assets, postcss-inline-svg and postcss-sprites to work with graphics.[25][26][27]

History

During the course of the Rework project, the idea of modular CSS processing was suggested by TJ Holowaychuk September 1, 2012.[28] February 28, 2013, TJ expressed it in public.[29]

March 14, 2013, Andrey Sitnik's front-end work for Evil Martians resulted in Autoprefixer, a Rework-based plugin.[30] Initially, the plugin name was rework-vendors.[31]

As Autoprefixer grew, Rework could no longer to meet its needs.[32] September 7, 2013,[33] Andrey Sitnik started to develop PostCSS based on the Rework ideas.[34]

In 3 months, the first PostCSS plugin, grunt-pixrem was released.[35] December 22, 2013, Autoprefixer version 1.0 migrated to PostCSS.[36]

For PostCSS, the primary style focus is alchemy.[37] The project logo represents the philosopher's stone.[38] Major and minor PostCSS versions get their names after the Ars Goetia demons.[39] For instance, version 1.0.0 is called Marquis Decarabia.

The term postprocessor has caused some confusion.[40] The PostCSS team used the term to show that PostCSS was not a template language (preprocessor) but a CSS tool. However, some developers think the term postprocessor would better suit browser tools (for instance, -prefix-free).[41] The situation has become even more complicated after the release of PreCSS. Now, instead of postprocessor, the PostCSS team use the term processor.[42]

References
  1. Who can release PostCSS to npm
  2. PostCSS Releases
  3. License in PostCSS repo
  4. First article about PostCSS in Tuts+ course
  5. Evil Martians commit in PostCSS repo
  6. What is PostCSS discussion
  7. PostCSS Deep Dive: Preprocessing with “PreCSS”
  8. Andrey Sitnik - PostCSS: The Future After Sass and LESS
  9. postcss-loader
  10. gulp-postcss
  11. grunt-postcss
  12. postcss-cli
  13. Running postcss in the browser
  14. postcss-less
  15. postcss-scss
  16. autoprefixer
  17. css-modules
  18. css-loader dependencies
  19. stylelint
  20. stylefmt
  21. precss
  22. preset-env.cssdb.org
  23. cssnano.co
  24. rtlcss.com
  25. postcss-assets
  26. postcss-inline-svg
  27. postcss-sprites
  28. Holowaychuk, TJ (2012-09-01). "Initial commit · reworkcss/rework@0a7be25". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  29. Holowaychuk, TJ (2013-02-28). "Modular CSS preprocessing with rework - TJ Holowaychuk". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2014-09-18. Retrieved 2014-09-18.
  30. Sitnik, Andrey (2013-03-14). "Initial commit · postcss/autoprefixer@d36346e". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  31. Sitnik, Andrey (2013-03-28). "Rename project to autoprefixer · postcss/autoprefixer@419a77d". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  32. Gallagher, Nicolas (2014-06-04). "Facilitate autoprefixer needs · Issue #20 · reworkcss/css". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  33. Sitnik, Andrey (2013-09-07). "Init project · postcss/postcss@2d96cea". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  34. Sitnik, Andrey (2015-09-07). "PostCSS Second Birthday — Martian Chronicles, Evil Martians' team blog". Martian Chronicles, Evil Martians’ team blog. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  35. Rob, Wierzbowski (2013-12-14). "Initial commit · robwierzbowski/grunt-pixrem@0f7b662". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  36. [Sitnik, Andrey (2013-12-21). "Release 1.0 "Plus ultra" · postcss/autoprefixer". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  37. Tisäter, Marcus (2015-12-31). "Mockup · Issue #4 · postcss/postcss.org". Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  38. @PostCSS (2015-08-14). "PostCSS logo is a alchemy sign of philosopher's stone, which can transform metals to gold" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  39. @Autoprefixer (2013-12-17). "Every PostCSS version code name is taken from demons list in alchemy book "Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis"" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  40. Marohnić, Matija (2014-09-07). "CSS pre- vs. post-processing | Silvenon's Blog". Silvenon's Blog. Archived from the original on 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  41. The Trouble With Preprocessing Based on Future Specs
  42. @PostCSS (2015-07-28). "It is time admit my mistakes. "Postprocessor" term was bad. PostCSS team stopped to use it" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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