CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cssftpeditorstylesheetsass
Mark Ernst
Mark Ernst

Reputation: 313

Using SASS to develop on extenal locations (e.g: FTP, remote PC)

We're looking into developing with SASS in combination with Compass (for now) and it's all looking promising. However, we've got a few people here who aren't too keen on the command line interface. Naturally I suggested Scout or Compass.App, but that doesn't take care of our next prerequisite, unfortunately.

Yes, you guessed right. We're in the need of a remote tool which is flow friendly. Currently we use FTP programs such as DreamWeaver, phpStorm, Aptana and Zend Studio to modify and develop .css files, but seeing that we need a parser for .scss SASS files, we can't develop online. Yes, we could use PhamlP or PHPSASS but those tools lack updates and as stated in my other questions here on Stack Exchange, you'd have to wait for bugfixes from those developers after the SASS people fix theirs. Same goes for alpha, beta and release candidate releases.

So, basically, what would be a good solution?

  1. External development (FTP)
  2. Internal development (local server, thus remote PC)
  3. No save-drag-drop-check, basically just save-check (uploading done by the program)

And finally, why we're not working on a locale machine is because we won't have any version control in that case. Our server has both subversion control and hourly backups.

Thanks!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1257

Answers (2)

Andrey Mikhaylov - lolmaus
Andrey Mikhaylov - lolmaus

Reputation: 23883

The modern approach is like that.

Subversion is the past

First of all, forget Subversion and use Git for version control. With Git, every developer has their own repo on his machine. After developing a feature, he pushes it from his local repo to the main repo.

Deploy with decency

Secondly, use deployment tools. There are numerous good methods of deployment, and FTP isn't one of them. Unless you do lowest-grade websites and host them on a shared hosting, you should have SSH on the server and use either a custom script or a tool (Capistrano is among the most known ones, and there are many other decent tools) to deploy from Git.

Source control the sources, not the compiled stuff

Thirdly, don't store CSS and generated sprites in the source code repository. Put them into .gitignore. The project should be compiled on the server during deployment. Bundler will help you fetch Sass dependencies automatically.

PS People being unfamiliar with command line is a really poor excuse. It's like being a cook and whimpering that you don't know how to use the oven. Instead of hiring a person responsible for ovens, make your cooks learn how to use them. Have them do an online course to learn command line (this one or google for another one).

Upvotes: 2

Petr
Petr

Reputation: 3249

You can map your FTP server to local drive letter. You can use any tool with that setup.

For example, this tool http://www.webdrive.com/products/webdrive/index.html can convert any ftp to local "virtual drive"

Upvotes: 1

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