Rails - Assets loaded on all pages

Question

So I'm kinda lost here. All my CSS/SCSS files are loaded everywhere on my app. But I have two different design (front and back) that I want to separate. How can I achieve that ?
Plus it's kinda useless that all js/css are loaded, even where they are not used. How can I control that ?

Answer 1

In your application.js and application.css there is a directive by default: require_tree. It will load all your js and css files to be precompiled later. This is done to make the clients to download the assets packet only once (as it will be cached by the browser) and make the app faster.

If you want to load specific javascript or stylesheet files for each controller, remove the require_tree directive and include them in their respective controller:

<%= javascript_include_tag params[:controller] %> or <%= stylesheet_link_tag params[:controller] %>

Check this out: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/asset_pipeline.html#controller-specific-assets

Answer 2

What you're wanting to do is control your layouts.

As your question is currently it's too broad for someone to give you a decent specific answer, it's like saying 'tell me about astrophysics, I don't understand how to launch a rocket right now'.

I would suggest to start with the rails guides relating to layouts and then come back with a more specific question once you have a better understanding.

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/layouts_and_rendering.html

There is also a great 11 minute video on RailsCasts which will help you understand and control the assets pipeline: http://railscasts.com/episodes/279-understanding-the-asset-pipeline

Where you are heading is say your app was about managing projects.

1. Make a copy of the application.css file called say project-manifest.css and use the same structure as that application.css for loading just the stylesheets you want.

2. Make a copy of views/layouts/application.html.erb to say projects-layout.html.erb

3. In the new projecs-layout file, update the reference to the css to point to project-manifest.css

4. Point your controller code to use your new layout

say you have:

# app/controllers/ProjectsController.rb

def show
  # code here
  # rails does a default render layout: 'application', its overwritten by adding an explict render
  render layout: 'project-layout'
end