Should I use Hugo extended for a new Hugo Project?

support
1

I have some questions about Hugo extended.

  1. Is the extended Version only for use SASS/SCSS?
  2. What are the main advantags to use Hugo extended?
  3. Will Hugo extended replace the “normal” Hugo version in the near future?
  4. Which version should I choose for a new Hugo project?
2

  1. Absolutely not. (at least I’ll vote against it)

  2. It’s up to you and it depends whether you’re using SASS/SCSS or PostCSS

As for the rest please have a look at the Docs and search a bit in the forum to see what Hugo Extended is about.

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3

In my opinion, for what it is worth, no. I am not currently using SASS/SCSS but I certainly do use the extended version.

Just my twisted view but:

  • SASS/SCSS support without any additional tooling or configuration. Beats wrangling with Webpack, etc.
  • Minify - that’s my main use case
  • Resource catenation - my other main use case. Lets you keep code neatly arranged in source files but bundled for production efficiency
  • Fingerprinting/Subresource Integrity - useful for security
  • Source maps - useful for debugging
  • Image processing
  • PostCSS - never used it but sounds like it is useful for some people

Overall this means that I wouldn’t need to use some other bundler to do most if not all of my pre-processing tasks.

If you don’t need any of these advantages, you don’t need to use it. There is no other difference as far as I know.

Also, you can always change your mind later whichever you choose. I decided to just use the extended version. I’m not worried about any additional resource requirements on my i7 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD dev PC :wink: But using only the extended version means I never need to really think about it.

4

You can do the above with the basic version of Hugo.

5

Ah, my bad - as I say, I just put in the extended version so I don’t have to think about it. I’ll probably use SASS/SCSS at some point.

6
  • The extended version is only needed if you want to do SASS/SCSS changes.
  • PostCSS support is in the regular version
  • You can use themes that use SASS/SCSS with the regular version provided that they have added the compiled styles to /resources in the theme
4 Likes
7

As I understand SASS need Ruby installed in your PC (I’m talking Windows) . Does this version of Hugo need Ruby. I’m not keen on Ruby as last time I tried to install it, it broke Windows and I had to re-install! Maybe I should use a Mac like all devs seem to.

8

No, Hugo Extended has a SASS parser included so you do not need to install Ruby. Welcome & if you have a question on something specific, feel free to open a new thread.