Title: WP-LESS Author: thom4 Published: Атырдьах ыйа 14, 2009 Last modified: Ыам ыйа 14, 2025 --- Search plugins This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/wp-less.svg) # WP-LESS By [thom4](https://profiles.wordpress.org/oncletom/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wp-less.1.9.8.zip) * [Details](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/#description) * [Reviews](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/#reviews) * [Installation](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/#installation) * [Development](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/) ## Description [LESS](http://lesscss.org) is a templating language based on top of CSS. It provides numerous enhancements to speed up development and make its maintenance easier. Theme developers can even bundle the plugin without worrying about conflicts: just include the special `bootstrap-for-theme.php` and read its instructions. #### Features * Variables * Mixins (inheritance of rules) * Nested Rules (write less, do more) * Accessors (inherit a value from a specific rule) * Functions (logic operations for dynamic results) The plugin lets you concentrate on what you need: coding CSS. Everything else is handled automatically, from cache management to user delivery. Seriously. #### Documentation Advanced topics on how to use the plugin API are [available on the Github project documentation](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/tree/master/doc). #### Requirements The sole requirement is to use WordPress API and LESS convention: the `.less` extension. **Minimal Requirements**: PHP 5.3 and WordPress 3.2. **Relies on**: [Less.php](http://lessphp.gpeasy.com/), [plugin-toolkit](https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/plugin-toolkit/). _Notice_: in case you’d like to drop the usage of this plugin, it’s safe to do it. You will just need to convert back your stylesheets to CSS. ## Screenshots * [[ * Sample of LESS to CSS conversion. ## Installation #### Automatic 1. Search for the plugin name (`WP-LESS`) 2. Click on the install button 3. Activate it #### Manual 1. Download the latest stable archive of the plugin 2. Unzip it in your plugin folder (by default, `wp-content/plugins`) 3. Activate it through your WordPress plugins administration page ## FAQ Lots of efforts have been done to write a [consistent documentation](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/tree/master/doc) to address issues you may encounter. It covers topics like path customization, declaring LESS variables from PHP, creating new LESS functions etc. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4421020034e4cc91742bf6fab4237e291698da45417c13e9e67b697d64e1a1b9? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Very good](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-good-1825/)󠁿 [marcrock](https://profiles.wordpress.org/marcrock/) Тохсунньу 15, 2017 Nice to work with it. Thank you very much! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cc8e31b8db49504b1ecf5ae1d13e017fcf4f0ab60bcf2332ebeb05dd73cef4a4? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Well written and maintenance-free](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/well-written-and-maintenance-free/)󠁿 [Makapaka](https://profiles.wordpress.org/makapaka/) Балаҕан ыйа 3, 2016 This plugin is fast and error free. It allows to easly add Less support to your WP theme. No needed configuration, just treat your *.less files like regular *.css in your theme’s directory. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8cd09c0df68d58750e849438cb5268d1751c2e70592e72f5fb32b9700b1ab039? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Saves time for those Less experts](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/saves-time-for-those-less-experts/)󠁿 [alvinkonda](https://profiles.wordpress.org/alvinkonda/) Балаҕан ыйа 3, 2016 Thank you for this amazing plugin, it saves us Theme Developers lots of time with this simple implementation directly from the theme. i love the passing of variables as well. The only thing im not yet figuring it out is the CSS generated from the plugin doent cache, am i missing sth? ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c3919b8792d375e1011cbadd5c963cb1827671a22a3c54df477df20805eb4192? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Works perfectly](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-perfectly-761/)󠁿 [Marie-Aude](https://profiles.wordpress.org/marie-aude/) Балаҕан ыйа 3, 2016 A wonderful tool to get rid of headers bloated with css. Thanks a lot. [ Read all 19 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “WP-LESS” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ thom4 ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/oncletom/) * [ fabrizim ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/fabrizim/) “WP-LESS” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wp-less/contributors) for their contributions. [Translate “WP-LESS” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wp-less) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-less/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wp-less/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wp-less/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wp-less/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### Version 1.9.0 * feature: default less compiler is now [wikimedia/less.php](https://github.com/wikimedia/less.php)( [#117](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/117)) * feature: output is compressed by default #### Version 1.8.0 * feature: default less compiler is now [oyejorge/less.php](http://lessphp.gpeasy.com/)( [#90](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/90) #### Version 1.7.6 * info: updated vendored lessphp libraries versions (oyejorge/less.php@1.7.0.5) #### Version 1.7.5 * feature: now works properly in the admin side ([#68](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/68)) #### Version 1.7.4 * feature: favour composer autoload to manual PHP `require` ([#64](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/64)) #### Version 1.7.3 * bug: fixed the LESS library loading ([#63](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/issues/63)) * doc: documented the new LESS library swapping #### Version 1.7.0 * feature: ability to provide your own flavour of `lessphp` or `less.php` ([#53](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/53)) * bug: fixed stylesheet directory computation ([#61](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/61)) * bug: unlink exception during utpdated files cleanup ([#49](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/49)) * style: code cleanup ([#56](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/56), [#55](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/55)) #### Version 1.6.0 Read the UPGRADE NOTICE carefully as this release contains BC change. Hence the version bump to `1.6.0`. * lessphp: updated to v0.4.0 #### Version 1.5.4 * bug: fixed stylesheet URL computation ([#38](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/38)) * bug: fixed cache-hit miss after stylesheet garbage collection ([#40](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/40)) * added a CONTRIBUTORS file #### Version 1.5.3 * lessphp: updated to v0.3.9 #### Version 1.5.2 * bug: fixed garbage collector bug ([#28](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/28)) * bug: fixed cachebusting URI generation in deep mode ([#29](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/29)) * bug: fixed access to Plugin instance, matching the documentation ([#39](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/39)) #### Version 1.5.1 * feature(beta): less stylesheets can be enqueued in `wp-admin` * feature: added `WPLessConfiguration::getTtl` method to let you configure the delay of old-files cleanup * bug: fixed automatic replacements with absolute and data uri ([#19](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/19)) * bug: fixed garbage collector; was pruning active stylesheets even if too old ( buggy with active cache) ([#20](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/20)) #### Version 1.5 Mostly issues related to `lessphp` 0.3.8 features. * /!\ Leveraged PHP Minimum Version to 5.2.4 /!\ ([WordPress already asks you the same](https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/)) * [dev documentation available online](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/tree/master/doc) * bug: stylesheets compilation is now processed on `wp_enqueue_scripts` ([prop of @RixTox](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/18)) * feature: providing stylesheet and template directory uri variables (`@stylesheet_directory_uri`&` @template_directory_uri`) following WordPress convention * feature: Pruning old compiled files [#15](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/15) * feature: Smarter LESS compilation (following @import file updates) [#13](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/13) * feature: Systematic LESS rebuild through configuration [#14](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/14) * improvement: Match lessphp variable API [#12](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/12) #### Version 1.4.3 * bug: fixed HTTPS/Networked Blog URL replacement ([#8](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/8), [#9](https://github.com/oncletom/wp-less/pull/9)) * bug: fixed the `property of non-object in Plugin.class.php` bug * lessphp: updated to 0.3.8 (compatible with lessjs 1.3) #### Version 1.4.2 * feature: if `WP_DEBUG` is set to true, compilation is done on every page * feature: rebuild now takes care of LESS PHP variable * feature: added support of [custom LESS functions](http://leafo.net/lessphp/docs/index.html#custom_functions) * lessphp: updated to version 0.3.1 #### Version 1.4.1 * bug: CSS `url()` are now properly resolved relative to the theme URL #### Version 1.4 * action: `wp-less_compiler_parse_pre` now takes 3 arguments: class instance, text and variable arguments * action: `wp-less_stylesheet_save_pre` now takes 2 arguments: class instance and variable arguments * helper: added `less_add_variable` to ease manipulations from theme, if needed( the file needs to be included manually) * stylesheet: `getBuffer()` and `setBuffer` will be removed in 1.5 version * lessphp: removed the custom patch for buffer manipulation, due to built-in variable management * lessphp: updated to version 0.3.0 #### Version 1.3.1 * renamed `wp-less_compiler_parse` action to `wp-less_compiler_parse_pre` to avoid name conflicts * renamed `wp-less_compiler_construct` action to `wp-less_compiler_construct_pre` to avoid name conflicts * lessphp: patched the lib to let manipulating the buffer, and replace strings ( do it at your own risks) #### Version 1.3 * moved stylesheet processing from `wp_print_styles` to `wp` action * added new compiler actions and filters (same name each): `wp-less_compiler_construct` and `wp-less_compiler_parse` * added `WPLessCompiler::getBuffer()` and `WPLessCompiler::setBuffer()` method, to enables hooking on LESS content, before being compiled into CSS * removed `WPLessStyleseet::getTargetContent` method * upgraded `plugin-toolkit` * usage of `$WPLessPlugin->dispatch` instead of `$WPLessPlugin->registerHooks` to match the new `plugin-toolkit` signature * no more configuration collision if usage of multiple plugins using `plugin-toolkit` * lessphp: updated to [eac64a9d5a3bc3186a11c7130968388819f4c403](https://github.com/leafo/lessphp/commit/eac64a9d5a3bc3186a11c7130968388819f4c403) commit #### Version 1.2.1 * fixed the case where no stylesheet is queued (no warning anymore) #### Version 1.2 * added 2 new filters working on freshly transformed CSS * added a HTML helper to LESSify directly from templates, without queuying with` wp_enqueue_stylesheet` (can’t really recommend this usage) * added timestamp calculation so as you can be HTTP cache-control compliant * documented plugin hooks and filters * hooked a filter to update relative paths to deal `uri` and cached file location * lessphp: updated to version 0.2.0 #### Version 1.1 * added `bootstrap-for-theme.php` to let themers bundle the plugin in their own themes * added `WPLessPlugin::registerHooks` methods to ease hooks activation * theme bootstrap will only load if the plugin is not alread activated * `WPLessPlugin::processStylesheets()` and `WPLessPlugin::processStylesheet()` now accepts an additional parameter to force the rebuild * lessphp: updated to version 0.1.6 * plugin-toolkit: updated to version 1.1 #### Version 1.0 * implemented API to let you control the plugin the way you want * just in time compilation with static file caching * lessphp: bundled to version 0.1.6 * plugin-toolkit: bundled experimental plugin development ## Meta * Version **1.9.8** * Last updated **11 ый ago** * Active installations **10, 000+** * WordPress version ** 3.2 or higher ** * Tested up to **5.8.13** * Languages * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/) and [Swedish](https://sv.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/). * [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wp-less) * Tags * [lesscss](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/lesscss/)[styles](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/styles/) [stylesheet](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/stylesheet/)[toolkit](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/toolkit/) * [Advanced View](https://sah.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-less/advanced/) ## Ratings 4.6 out of 5 stars. * [ 16 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 1 4-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 1 3-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 1 1-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ thom4 ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/oncletom/) * [ fabrizim ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/fabrizim/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-less/) ## Donate Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin? [ Donate to this plugin ](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=752034)