Dart Sass 1.0.0 is Released

I’ve just uploaded Dart Sass 1.0.0, the very first stable release, to GitHub, npm, Chocolatey, Homebrew, and pub. After working on it for almost two years, I’m thrilled to have a stable release out there and officially ready to use in real-world applications. All the reasons we chose Dart as the implementation language are bearing fruit: Dart Sass is much faster than Ruby Sass, much easier to make available across operating systems and language environments, and much more maintainable.

The 1.0.0 stable release indicates that Dart Sass is fully compatible with the Sass language as defined by the sass-spec test suite, and that its npm package is compatible with the Node Sass API, with the exception of source map support which is coming soon.

I’ve also updated sass-lang.com to cover Dart Sass. The release bar now shows the latest version of all three major implementations, as well as links to their release notes and documentation about each one. The install page covers Dart Sass instead of Ruby Sass, and the Dart Sass page talks all about what Dart Sass is and the various ways it can be used.

What’s Next?What’s Next? permalink

At first, the focus of Dart Sass was on compatibility with the Sass language. Once we reached that and graduated to a beta release, we shifted our focus to compatibility with the Node Sass API. Now that we’ve reached that, our primary aim for the next several months will be bringing the usability of Dart Sass up to (at least) the standard of Ruby Sass and Node Sass.

This means focusing on a number of features outside the language that make working with Sass pleasant. This includes generating source maps from both the command-line interface and the JavaScript API, adding a live watch mode, and integrating Dart Sass into the Node ecosystem. We’ve also got our eye on the possibility of creating a Ruby gem that embeds Dart Sass with a Ruby Sass-like API.

Of course, I’ll also continue to keep on top of bug fixes and new CSS features. I probably won’t personally have a lot of bandwidth for adding new language features, but if anyone else is interested there are a number that wouldn’t be too hard to add. Dart is a very easy language to learn, and I’ve written up a helpful guide on contributing.

What About Ruby Sass?What About Ruby Sass? permalink

I’ll be posting a more detailed post about the future of Ruby Sass soon, but the abbreviated version is that it’s now officially deprecated. I’ll continue maintaining it for one more year from the date this blog post goes live, including fixing bugs and updating it to support new CSS features, but it won’t be getting any new language features. Once the one-year deprecation period is up, the repository will be archived and no new versions will be released.

Of course, all that could change if someone is willing to step up as a new maintainer! It’s not an easy task, but it’s a chance to work on something that’s used by tons of people every day. If you’re interested, please email me and Chris and we’ll talk to you about next steps.

Give It a WhirlGive It a Whirl permalink

One of the big benefits of switching to Dart is increased portability, which means it’s easier than ever to install Sass. Give it a try on whichever is easiest for you:

• Standalone tarballs are available on GitHub, which you can just download and run from the command line.

• You can get the pure-JavaScript version from npm by running npm install -g sass.

• Chocolatey users on Windows can run choco install sass (or choco upgrade sass if you already have it).

• Homebrew users on Mac OS X can run brew install sass/sass/sass (or brew upgrade sass if you already have it).

• Or if you’re a Dart user, you can run pub global activate sass.

Now, get styling!