Advanced Themer vs Automatic CSS

[@jmcbade2960]

And now with the right click selector you don't need to memorize all kinds of values. With the BEM tool now integrated you can follow proper BEM class names for your elements and manage them expertly. If I had to pick one, it would be ACSS over AT.

[@wpeasy]

I like both implimentations. I tend to use the AT version because I use so many other AT features and it feels more consistent. I'm curious, what is it that you prefer about the ACSS version?

[@hanamikukabe3880]

I love the productivity, power, consistency, and support of ACSS framework. AT is all about the UI and enhancing it which I don't really need. There were UI tools like that for Oxygen and I used them. I have elected not to change my Bricks UI. @@wpeasy

[@Dougster123]

Good vid. ACSS already has autocomplete out of the box. Always has. Some competition for Plaster here.

[@wpeasy]

Maybe, Autocomplete wasn't bringing up a list for me in inputs until I enabled the AT feature.

[@Skratchable]

apparently plaster is no longer available/for sale. Wouldn't be surprised if Kevin (or Maxime?) and team bought them up . Great buy. Plaster is/was awesome.

[@kakenetit2]

@@Skratchable ACSS has Plaster integrated into now.

[@Skratchable]

@kakenetit2 oh yes I know. Such a great addition. Saves so much time.

[@HEYVIET]

I’m an ACSS customer, as well as AT. Just hypothetically speaking…what’s to stop someone from copying all of the CSS from ACSS and importing it into AT? The variables would get set so other than the default spacing…etc what is the benefit now? AT latest upgrades with creating blueprint site feels like it would be less convoluted than adding ACSS.

[@wpeasy]

You could, but then you wouldn't have a UI to change the ACSS framework settings.

[@NorthTonawanda1]

People are still trying to wrap their head around the power of custom properties.

[@MrUffizzi]

I found at themer worked better for me, so easy to only make what you need. Can’t see myself using acss moving forward, at themer feels so much lighter and a breath of fresh air. Own the ltd as well.

[@wpeasy]

Yeah Maxime is doing a great job. I believe that it is still Beta, not a Stable release as yet though. ACSS still has its merits as well. It is pretty comprehensive and if you want to Wireframe with Frames, you really do need it.

[@tavusion]

Same, AT is actually replacing ACSS for me.

[@BGdev305]

AT is all you need for basic dev.. there are MANY reasons why ACSS is better for true development. One example, AT only uses px.. that is a MAJOR no-no, where as ACSS is em / rem, and any other. You keep doing things in px you will soon learn that for responsiveness it's a pain! Definitely not gonna list the many advantages of ACSS over AT. AT is just good for quality of life stuff.. meaning they are VERY good at giving you the things that Bricks doesn't already come with to make life easier using it. While Pinegrow beats them ALL though!

[@tavusion]

@@BGdev305 AT uses pixels in its options but implements em throughout the code. I'm subscribed to ACSS for almost a year, have owned Frames LTD since day 1, and have used them in builds. I still feel that defining and setting up your own framework is more powerful and efficient. If you're new and don't know best practices, ACSS is the best option. But if you know clean web development, you have more options to craft the framework for your workflow. For eg: The color naming that makes sense to me (and most web devs) is Primary 50, Primary 100, Primary 200, and so on. ACSS forces me to use something like Primary, Primary Dark, Primary Ultra Dark, Primary super duper light transparent 50%, and so on, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

[@MrUffizzi]

@@BGdev305 Not sure where you got the px idea from...."Keep in mind that all the pixels values will be converted in CQI/REM on frontend." Direct quote from the info within the AT plugin.

[@kwadupfpv2971]

Well I think this was exactly the video i needed and can't thank you enough for taking the time to do it. The end felt a little abrupt thought 😅. Leaves me wondering: besides the few AT settings you showed that should be toggled ON when using in combination with ACSS, are there other ones (AT settings) which you think are worthwhile using along with ACSS or was that it really? Also, do you know if AT's dark mode front-end switches will only work if using AT color palette or also when sticking to ACSS color system? I'm actually trying to make the best out of your and Cracka's and Paul's vids to define what my new blueprint setup will be 😉 Of course I'm lazy and prefer to rely on what experts like them and yourself tell me instead of trying things out myself 🙈

[@wpeasy]

AT has only just been released with a ton of features and I have only spent about 1 hour using it. So I'm really not sure what I would be using just yet. Like all plugins, some features may look cool, then you find that you just don't use them, while other features don't look so cool and turn out to be amazing :) RE: dark mode, I suspect that it only works with the AT color palette but I haven't looked at that feature yet. To be honest, it is probably the one I'm least likely to use. So where I am at with web dev and Blueprint sites: I want to build sites with high quality that are easy to maintain. I also want it to be as productive as possible. * I love the consistency that ACSS brings to how content is constructed and also the Frames templates. * I like that AT brings some productivity enhancements to Bricks Builder. I think a danger for plugin creators is adding too many features. Users then sometimes judge the quality based on the least useful features or the ones that don't work how they would like them to. E.g. Bricksforge has been getting a lot of unwarranted criticism lately. It has a bunch of features. However, all I currently use is the bulk font importing, Animations extension, And BF Panel. All of which are brilliant.

[@kakenetit2]

AT comes with ACF Pro too. That's reason enough to own it in my opinion

[@Sascha.Hauser]

Thanks for the video, but it should be renamed: " How to use Advanced Themer together with ACSS". The title is totally misleading and leads people who have not worked intensively with acss before, maybe to the wrong conclusion. The problem is that many people, at least in my opinion, who have already bought ACSS have not actually worked with it, so they don't have the class names in their heads like you do and therefore they can't use the product in the same way. ( I mean they can, but they won´t) And yes you show how you can pick classes from a list inside Bricks instead of going to the ACSS homepage, which is great, but still, when you don´t know the name you are searching for in the list, what does it help? The thing is, you don´t have to with Advanced Themer and that is the great thing that let it stand out from the other framwork products. So for me, i don´t need to know 800 classes of ACSS and still be able to style my page with a class system and that even faster then with ACSS. (If you working with classes now for years and using ACSS 8 hours a day, this is a complete diffrent story..) For a fair comparison, the video would be maybe around an hour long. As would need to compare ALL features of both products and not only 5% of AdvancedThemer. Then i think you should also compare prices, and also addons compatibilites. ( For example how is it to work with frames (addons) vs. using only Advanced Themer and a premade custom layout, that you can buy everywhere for a project. - Then compare the workflow and the end result and time you spend on the complete project. - That would be a real comparison.

[@wpeasy]

The title is tongue-in-cheek. I say early in the video that they cannot be compared as they are completely different things. So this is in no way a comparison. Users have been asking if AT is a replacement for ACSS and also if it can be used with ACSS. This was really just to cover those questions. Everyone has different experiences, skills and preferences. They need to make their own minds up as to what works for them. I will never be arrogant enough to tell people what they should or should not do.

[@Gearyco]

ACSS users don't use ACSS in the way you're suggesting they do (knowing "800 classes"). It's very important to understand what the ACSS workflow enables instead of assuming that it works like other frameworks like Tailwind. The philosophy is completely different. I hardly use any ACSS utility classes when I build a site. That's not where the real power is. This is why I've created tons of training videos teaching the underlying philosophy. The power (and even greater simplicity) is actually in the variables and some of the other areas outside of utility classes.

[@Sascha.Hauser]

@@wpeasy So you write yourself that a comparison is not possible in your opinion, but write vs in the headline? That's why I wrote "should", because a real comparison should include things like price and how both plugins works. At least i would "suggest" to make a ? behind the headline. I also have a reason why i wrote this, because people already writing that they not considering Bricksbuilder at all anymore at all, because they think, they need not only a builder but also a plugin (ACSS) and plugin for the plugin like plaster or Advanced Themer, to get a decent workflow. If you call me arrogant just because of that.. it´s up to you.

[@Sascha.Hauser]

Hey Kevin, thanks for your statement and underlining my points like that. It's not about efficient, or good workflow, it's mainly about advocating and applying the right philosophy, right? And who determines what "the right philosohpy" is? Exactly - you. And because the way of working according to your philosophy is extremely time-consuming, you create products that help people to spend a little less time on the "right application of the right philosophy". Do you know what the hard truth is? - Clients don't care what philosophy their website is based on. All they care is about the outcome and what the outcome costs them. Sure, you can use authority and teaching to inform clients why your phylosophy might be better than others, BUT in the end it's results that matter and nothing else. And if one client pays 10k - 20k for a website just to have it built with the right phylosphy and another pays only 5k for the same website built 2-5x faster, who do you think has the better cards in the end? - First of all, no one, because both sites will convert exactly the same, because they are the same. ( At least when it comes to conversion) Know the diffrence? The 5k client still has 15k in his pocket for paid traffic in contrast to the client who has built his beautiful website according to the right philosophy.

[@wpeasy]

@@Sascha.Hauser You are misreading my statement. I did not say you are arrogant. I'm saying that I would not be arrogant to tell people what they should or should not do. I just present my ideas. Everyone works differently and makes their own judgments.

[@HarryThomas_HMT3design]

This is useful. Thank you.

[@BGdev305]

With AT you definitely want to use the tabs shortcuts why you would say not to enable them and then all through this video you are scrambling around in the content / style panels is baffling.

[@wpeasy]

I guess that is one issue with doing YT videos. I created this when I first got AT, and so many features to look at. Maxime has added so many features and improvements since that time. To answer your question directly, "Screen Real Estate", the shortcuts only save one click. I was more focused on other features. So many to look at :) However, the more you use something the more intuitive it becomes, and I certainly find that with Bricks and AT. We all find what works for ourselves.

[@brunopirard5787]

Take a look of how BricksProps work out of the box ... ;)

[@wpeasy]

Yeah, looks good.. I'm kind of at my "I have enough" point ATM. So many great options coming out. I like the fact that so many options for Bricks are just adding standard Bricks elements rather than custom-coded compound elements.

[@brunopirard5787]

@@wpeasy It does much more without having to add several plugins. All contextual menu, it has light/dark mode, and progressively JIT for CSS optimization. I have nothing against the other plugins, but I'm sorry, a lot of duplicate features in my opinion that complicate rather than facilitate. But that's just my opinion.

[@DanielNeubauer]

I agree OxyProps/BricksProps vs ACSS would be a better comparison.

[@BGdev305]

@@DanielNeubauer exactly!