<p class="lead">{{_i}}Customize and extend Bootstrap with <a href="http://lesscss.org" target="_blank">LESS</a>, a CSS preprocessor, to take advantage of the variables, mixins, and more used to build Bootstrap's CSS.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}Bootstrap is made with LESS at it's core, a dynamic stylesheet language created by our good friend, <a href="http://cloudhead.io">Alexis Sellier</a>. It makes developing systems-based CSS faster, easier, and more fun.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}As an extension of CSS, LESS includes variables, mixins for reusable snippets of code, operations for simple math, nesting, and even color functions.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}Visit the official website at <a href="http://lesscss.org">http://lesscss.org</a> to learn more.{{/i}}</p>
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<h3>{{_i}}Variables{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}Managing colors and pixel values in CSS can be a bit of a pain, usually full of copy and paste. Not with LESS though—assign colors or pixel values as variables and change them once.{{/i}}</p>
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<h3>{{_i}}Mixins{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}Those three border-radius declarations you need to make in regular ol' CSS? Now they're down to one line with the help of mixins, snippets of code you can reuse anywhere.{{/i}}</p>
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<h3>{{_i}}Operations{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}Make your grid, leading, and more super flexible by doing the math on the fly with operations. Multiple, divide, add, and subtract your way to CSS sanity.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}Mixins are basically includes or partials for CSS, allowing you to combine a block of code into one. They’re great for vendor prefixed properties like <code>box-shadow</code>, cross-browser gradients, font stacks, and more. Below is a sample of the mixins that are included with Bootstrap.{{/i}}</p>
<h1>{{_i}}Compiling Bootstrap with LESS{{/i}}</h1>
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{{_i}}<strong>Note:</strong> If you're submitting a pull request to GitHub with modified CSS, you <strong>must</strong> recompile the CSS via any of these methods.{{/i}}
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<h2>{{_i}}Tools for compiling{{/i}}</h2>
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<h3>{{_i}}Node with makefile{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}Install the LESS command line compiler with npm by running the following command:{{/i}}</p>
<pre>$ npm install less</pre>
<p>{{_i}}Once installed just run <code>make</code> from the root of your bootstrap directory and you're all set.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}Additionally, if you have <a href="https://github.com/mynyml/watchr">watchr</a> installed, you may run <code>make watch</code> to have bootstrap automatically rebuilt every time you edit a file in the bootstrap lib (this isn't required, just a convenience method).{{/i}}</p>
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<h3>{{_i}}Command line{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}Install the LESS command line tool via Node and run the following command:{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}Be sure to include <code>--compress</code> in that command if you're trying to save some bytes!{{/i}}</p>
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<h3>{{_i}}Javascript{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}<a href="http://lesscss.org/">Download the latest Less.js</a> and include the path to it (and Bootstrap) in the <code><head></code>.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}To recompile the .less files, just save them and reload your page. Less.js compiles them and stores them in local storage.{{/i}}</p>
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<h3>{{_i}}Unofficial Mac app{{/i}}</h3>
<p>{{_i}}<a href="http://incident57.com/less/">The unofficial Mac app</a> watches directories of .less files and compiles the code to local files after every save of a watched .less file.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}If you like, you can toggle preferences in the app for automatic minifying and which directory the compiled files end up in.{{/i}}</p>
<p>{{_i}}Mac, Linux, and PC app for drag and drop compiling of LESS files. Plus, the <a href="https://github.com/Paratron/SimpLESS" target="_blank">source code is on GitHub</a>.{{/i}}</p>
