SASS (Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets) is often considered better than pure CSS for several reasons, primarily because it introduces **powerful features** that make writing and maintaining stylesheets more efficient and organized. While CSS is straightforward and works well for small projects, it can become cumbersome and repetitive as projects grow in complexity. SASS addresses these limitations by adding **programming-like features** that enhance the capabilities of traditional CSS. One of the most significant advantages of SASS is its ability to use **variables**. In pure CSS, if you want to reuse a specific color or font size across multiple elements, you have to repeat the same value over and over. This becomes a maintenance nightmare if you need to change that value later. With SASS, you can define a variable once and reuse it throughout your stylesheet. For example: ```scss $primary-color: #3498db; $font-stack: Helvetica, sans-serif; body { font-family: $font-stack; color: $primary-color; } .button { background-color: $primary-color; } ``` If you decide to change the primary color later, you only need to update the variable, and the change will propagate everywhere it’s used. This makes your code **more maintainable** and less error-prone. Another powerful feature of SASS is **nesting**, which allows you to write cleaner and more readable code. In pure CSS, if you want to style nested elements, you have to repeat the parent selector multiple times. With SASS, you can nest selectors inside one another, which mirrors the structure of your HTML. For example: ```scss nav { ul { margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; li { display: inline-block; a { text-decoration: none; color: $primary-color; } } } } ``` This is much easier to read and maintain compared to the equivalent CSS: ```css nav ul { margin: 0; padding: 0; list-style: none; } nav ul li { display: inline-block; } nav ul li a { text-decoration: none; color: #3498db; } ``` SASS also introduces **mixins**, which are reusable blocks of code that can accept arguments. This is particularly useful for handling vendor prefixes or creating complex styles that need to be reused across multiple elements. For example: ```scss @mixin border-radius($radius) { -webkit-border-radius: $radius; -moz-border-radius: $radius; border-radius: $radius; } .button { @include border-radius(10px); } ``` This mixin allows you to apply a border radius with all the necessary vendor prefixes in one go, saving you from writing repetitive code. Another feature that sets SASS apart is **inheritance**, which allows you to share a set of CSS properties from one selector to another. This is done using the `@extend` directive. For example: ```scss %message-shared { padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #ccc; color: #333; } .success { @extend %message-shared; border-color: green; } .error { @extend %message-shared; border-color: red; } ``` This approach keeps your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) and makes it easier to manage shared styles. Lastly, SASS allows you to split your styles into **multiple files** and then import them into a single file. This modular approach makes it easier to organize your code, especially in large projects. For example, you can have separate files for variables, mixins, and components, and then import them like this: ```scss @import 'variables'; @import 'mixins'; @import 'buttons'; ``` In summary, SASS enhances CSS by adding **variables**, **nesting**, **mixins**, **inheritance**, and **modularity**. These features make your stylesheets more **efficient**, **maintainable**, and **scalable**, especially as your projects grow in size and complexity. While pure CSS is perfectly fine for small projects, SASS provides the tools to handle larger, more complex designs with ease.