Gulp + SCSS + LiveReload

This Gist outlines the gulp workflow that will:

watch for any scss changes, then compiles scss source into css
watch for any changes in the public directory, and trigger live-reload
serve static content in public/

This Gist also assumes you already know how to install npm modules, gitignore, create directories and create files via the command line.

globally install npm

First, make sure you have all the required dependencies. If you do not have npm or gulp installed globally, you need to install them. If you already have these installed, skip to the next step.

to install npm
brew install npm

to install gulp
npm install -g gulp

set up gulp + scss + livereload for your project

set up node modules

run npm init to initialize your project with a package.json file
set up your .gitignore file to ignore node_modules
install and save required dependencies:

npm install -D gulp
npm install -D gulp-sass
npm install -D gulp-connect

set up the project directories

set up a scss source directory in the root directory.
set up scss source file styles.scss and an empty partials directory in the scss directory
set up the output directory public in the root directory.
set up the compiled css directory inside the public directory.
set up root html5 template file public/index.html
add the markup for a basic html5 template in public/index.html. (Use Emmett and it will take 2 keystrokes!!)
in the index file head, load /css/styles.css
include an h1 element in the body with the content of Hello SCSS!

set up your gulpfile

set up a Gulpfile touch gulpfile.js
set up the Gulpfile tasks. Contents of gulpfile.js:

var gulp = require('gulp');
var sass = require('gulp-sass');
var connect = require('gulp-connect');

gulp.task('connect', function(){
  connect.server({
    root: 'public',
    livereload: true
  });
});

// keeps gulp from crashing for scss errors
gulp.task('sass', function () {
  return gulp.src('./scss/*.scss')
      .pipe(sass().on('error', sass.logError))
      .pipe(gulp.dest('./public/css'));
});

gulp.task('livereload', function (){
  gulp.src('./public/**/*')
  .pipe(connect.reload());
});

gulp.task('watch', function () {
  gulp.watch('./scss/**/*.scss', ['sass']);
  gulp.watch('./public/**/*', ['livereload']);
});

gulp.task('default', ['connect', 'watch', 'sass']);

test scss and the gulp task

In the scss/styles.scss file, write the "Hello World" of SCSS (we are checking if variables work. If #333333 loads as the background color, variables are working, and thus, sass is working).
```
$dark-color : #333333;

body {
  background: $dark-color;
}
```
run gulp in your terminal
open the compiled styles.css file in SublimeText (/public/css/styles.css)
check if it is proper css
open a browser open localhost:8080
you should see a dark grey background and your single black h1 text

test livereload

while you terminal, browser, and sublime text are all visible, add the following to your styles.scss

h1 {
  color: #F1F1F1;
}

note livereload will only track files that it sees when you first start the gulp task. including the initial generated css files, after the first time you compile, you'll have to restart gulp!
once you save this file, your browser should automatically refresh, and your h1 element should be white.

viewport

In order for the webpage to render and scale properly on mobile devices, add this meta tag to your public/index.html file in the the <head> element

 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

workflow

Once gulp sass and livereload are wired up correctly, commit your new files

While you work, make sure to keep your "gulp" terminal running and visible, if your sass source is invalid, it will crash the watching gulp process, and you will want to see the error message that will output in that terminal. Then you can restart your gulp watcher after fixing your errors.

Anytime you add new files to your public/ directory (like images or javascript), you may need to kill then restart your gulp task

kellishouts/gulp-scss-livereload.md