Skip to content
This repository


Subversion checkout URL

You can clone with HTTPS or Subversion.

Download ZIP

A simple and lightweight mixin library for Sass.

Fetching latest commit…

Cannot retrieve the latest commit at this time

Bourbon Sass Mixins

The purpose of Bourbon Sass Mixins is to provide a comprehensive library of sass mixins that are designed to be as vanilla as possible, meaning they should not deter from the original CSS syntax. The mixins contain vendor specific prefixes for all CSS3 properties for support amongst modern browsers. The prefixes also ensure graceful degradation for older browsers that support only CSS3 prefixed properties. Bourbon uses SCSS syntax.


Sass 3.1+

Install for Rails

Update your Gemfile

gem 'bourbon'

$ bundle install

Rails 3.1.x

Rename application.css to application.css.scss


Bourbon needs the sass files to be imported in a specific order to function properly. Therefore, you will need to disabled the require_tree sprocket directive. Delete the following sprocket directive in application.css.scss

*= require_tree .

Import bourbon at the beginning of application.css.scss

@import "bourbon";

Import all additional stylesheets from your app/assets/stylesheets directory underneath the bourbon import

@import "bourbon";
@import "home";
@import "users";

Rails 3.0.9 and below

For Rails < 3.1 you must run the installation rake task. Please note, you should run this task every time a new version of Bourbon is released. This will copy the Sass files into your project's public/stylesheets/sass directory.

rake bourbon:install

Import the mixins at the beginning of your stylesheet

@import 'bourbon/bourbon';

Install without Rails

The following script will generate a bourbon directory and convert all .css.scss to .scss extensions. The bourbon directory is for 'sass --watch' use outside of rails. Preliminary step: clone this repo and cd into the directory.

Step 1: Make script executable by changing file permission

chmod a+x

Step 2: Generate files


Step 3: Move the new bourbon directory into your project's sass directory. e.g. stylesheets/sass/

Step 4: Bourbon requires an additional sass extension to output properly. You must watch your sass files with the following flag appended: -r ./bourbon/lib/bourbon.rb

# Example (project root directory)
sass --watch stylesheets/sass:stylesheets -r ./stylesheets/sass/bourbon/lib/bourbon.rb

In this case as well, you will need to import the mixins at the beginning of your stylesheet

@import 'bourbon/bourbon';

Browser support

Bourbon aims to provide support for CSS3 properties that are not yet fully supported in modern stable browsers. Pull requests: A general rule when considering a new mixin: Do the following browsers only support the CSS3 property using vendor specific prefixes? If the answer is yes, there is a high chance the mixin will be accepted via a pull request.

  • Firefox 3.6+
  • Safari 4.0+
  • Chrome 4.0+
  • Opera 10+
  • IE 9+

Bourbon does not intend to support IE filters.

Resources for checking browser support: MDN - Moz Dev Network, Mozilla CSS Extensions, Webkit CSS Properties, Firefox CSS Properties, MSDN - Microsoft Dev Network

Using Bourbon Mixins

Below are a few examples of mixin usage. Note that these are just a few, explore the repo to find out more.


The animation mixins support comma separated lists of values, which allows different transitions for individual properties to be described in a single style rule. Each value in the list corresponds to the value at that same position in the other properties.

@include animation-name(slideup, fadein);
@include animation-duration(1.0s, 1.2s);
@include animation-timing-function(ease-in-out, ease-out);

# Shorthand for a basic animation. Supports multiple parentheses-deliminated values for each variable.
@include animation-basic((slideup, fadein), (1.0s, 2.0s), ease-in);


The background-image mixin is helpful for chaining multiple comma delimited background images and/or linear-gradients into one background-image property. background-image supports up to 10 background-images.

# Multiple image assets
@include background-image(url("/images/a.png"), url("images/b.png"));

# Image asset with a linear-gradient
@include background-image(url("/images/a.png"), linear-gradient(white 0, yellow 50%, transparent 50%));

# Multiple linear-gradients;
@include background-image(linear-gradient(hsla(0, 100%, 100%, 0.25) 0%, hsla(0, 100%, 100%, 0.08) 50%, transparent 50%), linear-gradient(#4e7ba3, darken(#4e7ba4, 10%)) );

Border Radius

border-radius will also take short-hand notation.

@include border-radius(10px);
@include border-radius(5px 5px 2px 2px);

Box Shadow

box-shadow supports single or multiple arguments:

@include box-shadow(1px 1px 2px 0 #ff0000);

# Multiple arguments must be comma-delimited.
@include box-shadow(1px 1px 2px 0 #fff0000, -1px -2px 0 #ccc);

Box Sizing

Box-sizing will change the box-model of the element it is applied to.

@include box-sizing(border-box);

Flex Box

The flex-box mixin is based on the 2009 w3c spec. The mixin with change to the flexible box-model. More info.

div.parent {
  @include display-box;
  @include box-align(start);
  @include box-orient(horizontal);
  @include box-pack(start);

div.parent > div.child {
  @include box-flex(2);

# Alternative custom shorthand mixin.
div.parent {
  @include box($orient: horizontal, $pack: center, $align: stretch);


The inline-block mixin provides support for the inline-block property in IE6 and IE7.

@include inline-block;


Gradient position is optional, default is top. Position can be a degree. Color-stops are optional as well. Mixin will support up to 10 gradients.

@include linear-gradient(top, #1e5799 0%, #2989d8 100%);
@include linear-gradient(50deg, #1e5799 0%, #2989d8 50%, #207cca 51%, #7db9e8 100%);


Shorthand notation for setting the position of elements in your page.

Instead of writing:

position: relative;
top: 0px;
left: 100px;

You can write:

@include position(relative, 0px 0 0 100px);

The first parameter is optional, with a default value of relative. The second parameter is a space delimited list of values that follow the standard CSS shorthand notation.

Note: unit-less values will be ignored. In the example above, this means that selectors will not be generated for the right and bottom positions, while the top position is set to 0px.


Takes up to 10 gradients. Position and shape are required.

@include radial-gradient(50% 50%, circle cover, #1e5799, #efefef);
@include radial-gradient(50% 50%, circle cover, #eee 10%, #1e5799 30%, #efefef);

Transform & Transform-origin

@include transform(translateY(50px));
@include transform-origin(center top);


Shorthand mixin: Supports multiple parentheses-delimited values for each variable.

@include transition (all, 2.0s, ease-in-out);
@include transition ((opacity, width), (1.0s, 2.0s), ease-in, (0, 2s));
@include transition ($property:(opacity, width), $delay: (1.5s, 2.5s));`



The compact function will strip out any value from a list that is 'false'. Takes up to 10 arguments.

$full:  compact($name-1, $name-2, $name-3, $name-4, $name-5, $name-6, $name-7, $name-8, $name-9, $name-10);

Golden Ratio

Returns the golden ratio of a given number. Must provide a Pixel or Em value for first argument. Also takes a required increment value that is not zero and an integer: ...-3, -2, -1, 1, 2, 3...

div {
                    Increment Up GR with positive value
  font-size:        golden-ratio(14px,  1);    // returns: 22.652px

                    Increment Down GR with negative value
  font-size:        golden-ratio(14px, -1);    // returns: 8.653px

                    Can be used with ceil(round up) or floor(round down)
  font-size: floor( golden-ratio(14px,  1) );  // returns: 22px
  font-size:  ceil( golden-ratio(14px,  1) );  // returns: 23px

Resources: &


Outputs a linear-gradient. Use in conjunction with the background-image mixin. The function takes the same arguments as the linear-gradient mixin (See Mixins section of this README).

# Image asset with a linear-gradient

# Multiple linear-gradients;


Easily setup and follow a grid based design. Need help busting a move grid-style?!? Check out

# The $gw-column and $gw-gutter variables must be defined in your base stylesheet to properly use the grid-width function.
$gw-column: 100px;          // Column Width
$gw-gutter: 40px;           // Gutter Width

div {
  width: grid-width(4);     // returns 520px;
  margin-left: $gw-gutter;  // returns 40px;

Tint & Shade

Tint & shade are different from lighten() and darken() functions built into sass. Tint is a mix of a color with white. Tint takes a color and a percent argument.

div {
  background: tint(red, 40%);

Shade is a mix of a color with black. Shade takes a color and a percent argument.

div {
  background: shade(blue, 60%);



The button add-on provides well-designed buttons with a single line in your CSS. The mixin supports a style parameter and an optional color argument. The available styles are "simple" (default), "shiny", and "pill".

# The mixin can be called with no arguments, which will render a blue button with the "simple" style.
button, input[type="button"] {
  @include button;

# Pass a style argument
button, input[type="button"] {
  @include button(shiny);

Create beautiful buttons by defining a style and color argument; using a single color, the mixin calculates the gradient, borders, box shadow, text shadow and text color of the button. The mixin will change the text to be light when on a dark background, and dark when on a light background.

# Style + color arguments
button, input[type="button"] {
  @include button(shiny, #ff0000);

HTML5 Input Types

This addon generates a variable which contains a list of all html5 input types that render as text-based inputs, excluding textarea. In other words, it allows for easy targeting of all inputs that mimick input[type="text"].

* = [color, date, datetime, datetime-local, email, month, number, password, search, tel, text, time, url, week]

Usage Note: You must use interpolation with the variable.

#{$all-text-inputs}, textarea {
  border: 1px solid green;

input[type="email"], input[type="number"], input[type="password"], input[type="search"], input[type="tel"], input[type="text"], input[type="url"], input[type="color"], input[type="date"], input[type="datetime"], input[type="datetime-local"], input[type="month"], input[type="time"], input[type="week"], textarea {
  border: 1px solid green;

Timing functions

These CSS cubic-bezier timing functions are variables that can be used with CSS3 animations. The provided timing functions are the same as the jQuery UI demo: easing functions.

Variables supported: $ease-in-*, $ease-out-*, $ease-in-out-*
* = [quad, cubic, quart, quint, sine, expo, circ]

@include animation-timing-function($ease-in-circ);
@include animation-basic(fade-in, 1s, $ease-in-quad);

All Supported Functions, Mixins, and Addons

@ denotes a mixin and must be prefaced with @include


    @ animation(*args)
    @ animation-basic(*args)
    @ animation-delay(*args)
    @ animation-direction(*args)
    @ animation-duration(*args)
    @ animation-fill-mode(*args)
    @ animation-iteration-count(*args)
    @ animation-name(*args)
    @ animation-play-state(*args)
    @ animation-timing-function(*args)

  @ background-image(*args)
  @ border-radius(*args)
  @ box-shadow(*args)
  @ box-sizing(*args)

    @ box(*args)
    @ box-align(*args)
    @ box-direction(*args)
    @ box-flex(*args)
    @ box-flex-group(*args)
    @ box-lines(*args)
    @ box-ordinal-group(*args)
    @ box-orient(*args)
    @ box-pack(*args)
    @ display-box

  @ inline-block
  @ linear-gradient(*args)
  @ radial-gradient(*args)
  @ transform(*args)
  @ transform-origin(*args)

    @ transition(*args)
    @ transition-delay(*args)
    @ transition-duration(*args)
    @ transition-property(*args)
    @ transition-timing-function(*args)

@ button(*args)
@ position(*args)
  timing-functions ($ease-in-*, $ease-out-*, $ease-in-out-*)

Help Out

Currently the project is a work in progress. Feel free to help out. Pull requests: See Browser Support in this readme for more info



Bourbon is maintained and funded by thoughtbot, inc



Bourbon is Copyright © 2011 thoughtbot. It is free software, and may be redistributed under the terms specified in the LICENSE file.

Something went wrong with that request. Please try again.