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CSS Spriter

CSS Spriter is a tool generate sprite by scan .css file, it is better described by an example:

.icon_object {
  background: url('grp1.object.png');
}

.icon_method {
  background: url('grp1.method.png');
}

.icon_form {
  background: url('grp1.form.png');
}

.icon_list {
  background: url('grp2.list.png');
}

.icon_template {
  background: url('grp2.template.png');
}

.icon_enum {
  background: url('grp2.enum.png');
}

.icon_service {
  background: url('grp2.service.png');
}

It is a simple .css file defines several icons:

1. grp1.object.png
2. grp1.method.png
3. grp1.form.png
4. grp2.list.png
5. grp2.template.png
6. grp2.enum.png
7. grp2.service.png

There are 7 .png files, can be divided into two groups: grp1 and grp2 by file name prefix. Now run:

spriter -i tree.css -o build/out.css

Now you get three files in build directory:

1. out.css: rewritten with transformed background css declarations.
2. Q-EoXMh-.png: group grp1 sprite image .
3. GyO8rqsS.png: group grp2 sprite image .

Content of out.css:

.icon_object {
  background: url(Q-EoXMh-.png) no-repeat;
}

.icon_method {
  background: url(Q-EoXMh-.png) no-repeat -16px 0;
}

.icon_form {
  background: url(Q-EoXMh-.png) no-repeat -32px 0;
}

.icon_list {
  background: url(GyO8rqsS.png) no-repeat;
}

.icon_template {
  background: url(GyO8rqsS.png) no-repeat -16px 0;
}

.icon_enum {
  background: url(GyO8rqsS.png) no-repeat -32px 0;
}

.icon_service {
  background: url(GyO8rqsS.png) no-repeat -48px 0;
}

spriter parses the input .css file, gather all background image files match the format: group.name.png. Group them by group name, such as grp1 and grp2 in upper example, then create sprite for each group.

spriter compute hash value for each sprite file, and use its prefix for filename. When sprite file changes, the filename also changes. Perfect for enables http cache.

Install

As it is a Go application, the easiest way is:

go get -u github.com/redforks/css/cmd/spriter

spriter works well under Linex and OS/X, although not tested, but it should also work under Windows.

Conclusion

• Easy to use, put spriter into your build process, follow the name pattern and go.
• Update sprite offset automatically.
• Http cache safe
• Contains only referenced images, saves bandwidth.

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