title: Is this required to use Bootstrap mixins?
body: <p>I'm new to LESS and Bootstrap and I'm confused at the outcome of my css file.</p>
  
  <p>My basic goal is to use the mixins and variables in bootstrap in my own css files.</p>
  
  <p>From my understanding the process would be, get the less files, import them into the project, and <code>import</code> the bootstrap reference. So at this point I can now use the mixins in my own css file. </p>
  
  <p>Example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@import "less/bootstrap.less";
  
  .myRow{
      .make-row();
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However now I have a 7400+ lines of styling in myCustomStyles.css. Is this "correct"? I don't understand why it actually imports all the styles. My understanding is... that I have a reference to bootstrap.min.css CDN or local. Then myCustomStyles.css will be included AFTER that and override the default values.</p>
  
  <p>I guess I'm confused at how do I take advantage of a CDN and still use the mixins and variables in bootstrap?</p>
  
  <p>I've used the following two articles as a reference:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.helloerik.com/bootstrap-3-less-workflow-tutorial" rel="nofollow">http://www.helloerik.com/bootstrap-3-less-workflow-tutorial</a><br>
  <a href="http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/594098/How-to-customize-Twitter-Bootstrap-to-fit-your-web" rel="nofollow">http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/594098/How-to-customize-Twitter-Bootstrap-to-fit-your-web</a></p>