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CSS Modules VS Less

Compare CSS Modules VS Less and see what are their differences

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CSS Modules logo CSS Modules

I’ve been intrigued by CSS Modules lately. If you haven't heard of them, this post is for you. We'll be looking at the project and it's goals and aims. If

Less logo Less

Less extends CSS with dynamic behavior such as variables, mixins, operations and functions. Less runs on both the server-side (with Node. js and Rhino) or client-side (modern browsers only).
  • CSS Modules Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-21
  • Less Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19

CSS Modules features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Less features and specs

  • Simplifies CSS
    Less extends CSS with dynamic behavior like variables, mixins, operations, and functions, making stylesheets more maintainable and less repetitive.
  • Preprocessing
    Allows developers to write easier and cleaner code which then gets compiled into standard CSS, facilitating better performance and compatibility.
  • Variables and Mixins
    With the ability to use variables and mixins, code becomes modular and reusable, reducing the potential for errors and simplifying updates.
  • Nested Syntax
    Supports nested syntax which allows CSS to be structured in a manner that follows the same visual hierarchy, making it easier to read and understand.
  • Compatibility
    Compatible with all versions of CSS, making it easier to integrate with existing projects and frameworks without breaking them.

Possible disadvantages of Less

  • Learning Curve
    Requires developers to learn new syntax and concepts, which can be a barrier for those who are accustomed to traditional CSS.
  • Compilation Requirement
    Code written in Less needs to be compiled to CSS, adding an extra step in the development process.
  • Performance Overhead
    While not significant, the preprocessing step can add to development time and require additional configuration and tools.
  • Debugging
    Debugging Less can be more challenging compared to plain CSS because source maps need to be set up properly to map the compiled CSS back to the Less files.
  • Dependency
    Relies on Node.js or another JavaScript runtime for compiling the Less code, adding another dependency to the project.

CSS Modules videos

+ Add

Josh Johnston: At Least 6 Ways to Win with CSS Modules

More videos:

  • Review - Styling React Components with CSS Modules | Styling react with CSS Classes | Data Is Good
  • Review - Styling LitElement views part 2: global styles and CSS modules (Vaadin Fusion)

Less videos

+ Add

'Less' author Andrew Sean Greer answers your questions

More videos:

  • Review - Book Review: Less by Andrew Sean Greer, reviewed by Smriti
  • Review - Book Review - Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CSS Modules and Less)

CSS Modules

Less

CSS Framework
35 35%
CSS Framework
65% 65
Design Tools
29 29%
Design Tools
71% 71
Developer Tools
34 34%
Developer Tools
66% 66
Development Tools
100 100%
Development Tools
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using CSS Modules and Less. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CSS Modules seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 12 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CSS Modules mentions (12)

  • On why I prefer not to use elm-css
    ..., CSS Modules, CSS-in-JS, and Tailwind when I'm not constrained to do so. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Is there really no better way to isolate styles across components than CSS modules?
    From what I read about CSS modules, the style isolation provides some guard rails to prevent things like random bits of global style or having colliding rules all over the place. This makes a lot of sense, but even on huge projects, I never really have those problems. I've disciplined myself to pair a component file with a CSS file (MyComponent.jsx + MyComponent.css) and keep global styles to a minimum. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Components with separate styles - how to do?
    Any time you import CSS files into a module, that CSS becomes active on EVERY component in your entire project, so that's not really a good way to go about it. It essentially creates a tag inside the final rendered html with all of your CSS within it. If you have two CSS files, and they both have a class of .myClass then they will step on each other and cause bad things to happen to your... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Why do bigger websites have the weirdest class and id names?
    They are probably using css modules. Source: over 2 years ago
  • No Caption..
    This may be a little more advanced but I'd also recommend looking into CSS modules. It basically allows you to scope your styles to individual elements preventing unwanted cascading, and simplifies naming conventions a lot (since the class names are now variables). Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Less mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Less yet. Tracking of Less recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CSS Modules and Less, you can also consider the following products

styled-components - styled-components is a visual primitive for the component age that also helps the user to use the ES6 and CSS to style apps.

Sass - Syntatically Awesome Style Sheets

PostCSS - Increase code readability. Add vendor prefixes to CSS rules using values from Can I Use. Autoprefixer will use the data based on current browser popularity and property support to apply prefixes for you.

Autoprefixer - autoprefixer - Parse CSS and add vendor prefixes to rules by Can I Use

Stylus - EXPRESSIVE, DYNAMIC, ROBUST CSS

Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

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