What is cssnano?
cssnano is a modular minifier for CSS, which uses PostCSS for its plugin architecture. It is aimed at reducing the size of CSS files by applying various optimizations, such as removing whitespace, comments, and unnecessary prefixes, as well as merging rules and minifying values.
What are cssnano's main functionalities?
Preset Configuration
This code demonstrates how to use cssnano with its default preset to minify a CSS string. The 'process' method is called on the PostCSS instance with cssnano as a plugin.
const cssnano = require('cssnano');
const postcss = require('postcss');
postcss([cssnano()])
.process(css, { from: undefined })
.then(result => {
console.log(result.css);
});
Custom Plugin Usage
This code shows how to use cssnano with other PostCSS plugins like autoprefixer. It demonstrates the use of a custom preset configuration for cssnano.
const cssnano = require('cssnano');
const autoprefixer = require('autoprefixer');
const postcss = require('postcss');
postcss([autoprefixer, cssnano({ preset: 'default' })])
.process(css, { from: undefined })
.then(result => {
console.log(result.css);
});
Optimizing for Production
This code snippet illustrates how to use cssnano for production by disabling source maps and using the default preset for optimization.
const cssnano = require('cssnano');
const postcss = require('postcss');
postcss([cssnano({ preset: 'default' })])
.process(css, { from: undefined, map: false })
.then(result => {
console.log(result.css);
});
Other packages similar to cssnano
clean-css
clean-css is a fast and efficient CSS optimizer for Node.js and the browser. It performs similar tasks to cssnano, such as minifying CSS, but it does not use PostCSS as its foundation. It provides its own API and set of features for optimizing CSS files.
purgecss
purgecss is a tool to remove unused CSS, which can be used in conjunction with CSS minifiers like cssnano. While cssnano focuses on optimizing the CSS that is already being used, purgecss helps to reduce file size by stripping out styles that are not used in your HTML or JavaScript files.
uglifycss
uglifycss is a simple, straightforward CSS minifier. It lacks the modularity and plugin system of cssnano but is easy to use for basic CSS minification tasks. It is suitable for projects that require a simpler setup without the need for extensive configuration or additional plugins.