Angular

ANGULAR NEWS : Integrating Technologies with Angular, and Diversity Within the Community

Oct 28, 2019

3 min read

Spice up your Angular project with some new tools, and dive into the topic of tech diversity. Dan Wahlin, Lukas Ruebbelke, and Austin McDaniel go over the many ways you can implement Angular. Guest speaker Shmuela Jacobs introduces her group Ng Girls and discusses the importance of diversity in Tech.

Learn about Docker, Typescript, Desktop Applications, and even Virtual Reality -all done with Angular!

Using Other Technologies with Angular

Docker and TypeScript with Angular — An Interview with Dan Wahlin

Dan Wahlin, a Google Developer Expert for Angular shares some ways to improve developing with Angular: using TypeScript and Docker.

Typescript and Angular

For those who aren’t yet familiar with Typescript: Typescript is a superset of Javascript that provides static typing to the language. So instead of having your let foo = 0; you’ll need to specify let foo: number = 0;. Everything is precompiled before being shipped off to the browser.

While this may seem counterintuitive for an explicitly dynamically typed language, Typescript is actually very useful to ensure consistency across your project and allows backend developers to more easily understand front-end code. For beginners, Typescript’s strict typeset provides guardrails that catch more bugs and “smelly” code, and is a great way to gain a higher understanding of the code.

Using Typescript with newer versions of Angular is no problem, as the angular-cli already bundles them together. Even the docs use Angular + Typescript examples!

Docker

Docker may not be front-end specific, but it is a great solution for creating development environments that match your production environments. While there is a bit of a learning curve, Dan Wahlin assures that the platform is a fine solution for deploying multiple containers. More on the use of Docker and Typescript in his interview:

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Desktop Applications using Angular and Electron with Lukas Ruebbelke

Lukas Ruebbelke is a frequent tech blogger, Angular developer, and Google Developer Expert with a penchant for incorporating music into his projects.

Electron

Electron is an open-source framework that allows the use of front-end components to build desktop GUI applications. This means that you can use Angular while accessing OS specific tools, rather than needing to be concerned over browser types and version compatibility. Electron also allows client profiles for the user, reducing repetitive script calls when switching between clients and projects. Electron takes a node.js runtime and utilizes Chromium as a renderer to build the applications.

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VR & WebGL with Angular — Austin McDaniel Shares New Projects

Austin McDaniel has been working extensively with Angular, WebGL, and VR these days, while also hosting Angular Air on a regular basis.

Virtual Reality

For those VR and WebGL fans, the future has come for you in Angular. Austin talks about how Angular has enabled him to create a WebGL renderer far less error prone than other technologies. His Angular tool takes ThreeJS (a popular javascript WebGL library) and breaks down the objects into easy-to-use angular components and is open sourced for others to use.

Just another amazing example of how technology has progressed, and Angular’s flexible use cases!

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Tech Diversity Introducing NgGirls — An Angular Diversity Initiative with Shmuela Jacobs

It’s no secret that there’s a lack of women in the tech industry, but groups like Ng Girls are popping up to help alleviate the issue.

Shmuela Jacobs is a front-end developer with a passion for Angular and sharing knowledge with others. She’s the founder of NgGirls, an organization that aims to promote diversity in tech. Shmuela discusses the importance of diversity in the tech field and is trying to educate people that gender does not play a role in your joy or success in programming.

Although NgGirls is aimed towards women, men are also welcome. NgGirls creates a safe place for people to respect one another regardless of any differences and learn Angular together. NgGirls is growing, and you can even start your own local NgGirls group. Learn more about NgGirls at http://ng-girls.org/.

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Thank so much for reading this article. We hope you enjoyed! For more information on Angular, be sure to check out http://angular.io.

This article was co-written by Nadia S.C. and Tracy Lee

This Dot is a consultancy dedicated to guiding companies through their modernization and digital transformation journeys. Specializing in replatforming, modernizing, and launching new initiatives, we stand out by taking true ownership of your engineering projects.

We love helping teams with projects that have missed their deadlines or helping keep your strategic digital initiatives on course. Check out our case studies and our clients that trust us with their engineering.

4 Angular Component Libraries That are Perfect for Beginners

For beginners starting with Angular, the journey can feel daunting, especially when it comes to setting up projects from scratch. However, there is a range of outstanding Angular component libraries that alleviate this initial hurdle: ready-made toolkits, empowering newcomers to start building Angular applications without the complexities of bootstrapping their projects. Let’s take a look! Angular Material Angular Material is a UI component library by Google for Angular applications. It provides a variety of pre-built components following the Material Design guidelines, offering customization options, responsive design, and accessibility features. It's seamlessly integrated with Angular and offers extensive documentation and community support. NG-ZORRO NG-ZORRO is an Angular UI component library based on Ant Design by Alibaba. It offers a variety of customizable components for building modern web applications. With seamless Angular integration, responsive design, and accessibility features, NG-ZORRO simplifies development while following Ant Design principles. NG Bootstrap NG Bootstrap is a library for Angular developers to easily incorporate Bootstrap components into their applications without relying on jQuery. It offers Angular-specific directives and components, ensuring compatibility and performance within Angular projects while maintaining Bootstrap's responsive design and customization options. Clarity Design System Clarity is an open-source design system by VMware that offers a set of Angular components for building enterprise-scale applications. It provides components specifically tailored for data-centric applications, dashboards, and complex user interfaces. Clarity Design System emphasizes clarity, consistency, and usability in its components. The beginner’s journey can be both exhilarating and challenging. However, with the advent of powerful component libraries like Angular Material, NG-ZORRO, NG Bootstrap, and the Clarity Design System, the path becomes significantly smoother. These libraries offer pre-built components and design systems that eliminate the need to bootstrap projects from scratch. As beginners embark on their Angular journey, these libraries provide a sturdy foundation, allowing them to dive into development with confidence. By harnessing the capabilities of these libraries, beginners can not only expedite their learning curve but also craft exceptional Angular applications with ease and efficiency....

Mar 14, 2024

2 mins

Angular

Angular 17: Continuing the Renaissance

Angular 17: A New Era November 8th marked a significant milestone in the world of Angular with the release of Angular 17. This wasn't just any ordinary update; it was a leap forward, signifying a new chapter for the popular framework. But what made this release truly stand out was the unveiling of Angular's revamped website, complete with a fresh brand identity and a new logo. This significant transformation represents the evolving nature of Angular, aligning with the modern demands of web development. To commemorate this launch, we also hosted a release afterparty, where we went deep into its new features with Minko Gechev from the Angular core team, and Google Developer Experts (GDEs) Brandon Roberts, Deborah Kurata, and Enea Jahollari. But what exactly are these notable new features in the latest version? Let's dive in and explore. The Angular Renaissance Angular has been undergoing a significant revival, often referred to as Angular's renaissance, a term coined by Sarah Drasner, the Director of Engineering at Google, earlier this year. This revival has been particularly evident in its recent versions. The Angular team has worked hard to introduce many new improvements, focusing on signal-based reactivity, hydration, server-side rendering, standalone components, and migrating to esbuild and Vite for a better and faster developer experience. This latest release, in particular, marks many of these features as production-ready. Standalone Components About a year ago, Angular began a journey toward modernity with the introduction of standalone components. This move significantly enhanced the developer experience, making Angular more contemporary and user-friendly. In Angular's context, a standalone component is a self-sufficient, reusable code unit that combines logic, data, and user interface elements. What sets these components apart is their independence from Angular's NgModule system, meaning they do not rely on it for configuration or dependencies. By setting a standalone: true flag, you no longer need to embed your component in an NgModule and you can bootstrap directly off that component: ` Compared to the NgModules way of adding components, as shown below, you can immediately see how standalone components make things much simpler. ` In this latest release, the Angular CLI now defaults to generating standalone components, directives, and pipes. This default setting underscores the shift towards a standalone-centric development approach in Angular. New Syntax for Enhanced Control Flow Angular 17 introduces a new syntax for control flow, replacing traditional structural directives like ngIf or ngFor, which have been part of Angular since version 2. This new syntax is designed for fine-grained change detection and eventual zone-less operation when Angular completely migrates to signals. It's more streamlined and performance-efficient, making handling conditional or list content in templates easier. The @if block replaces *ngIf for expressing conditional parts of the UI. ` The @switch block replaces ngSwitch, offering benefits such as not requiring a container element to hold the condition expression or each conditional template. It also supports template type-checking, including type narrowing within each branch. ``` The @for block replaces *ngFor for iteration and presents several differences compared to its structural directive predecessor, ngFor. For example, the tracking expression (calculating keys corresponding to object identities) is mandatory but offers better ergonomics. Additionally, it supports @empty blocks. ` Defer Block for Lazy Loading Angular 17 introduces the @defer block, a dramatically improving lazy loading of content within Angular applications. Within the @defer block framework, several sub-blocks are designed to elegantly manage different phases of the deferred loading process. The main content within the @defer block is the segment designated for lazy loading. Initially, this content is not rendered, becoming visible only when specific triggers are activated or conditions are met, and after the required dependencies have been loaded. By default, the trigger for a @defer block is the browser reaching an idle state. For instance, take the following block: it delays the loading of the calendar-imp component until it comes into the viewport. Until that happens, a placeholder is shown. This placeholder displays a loading message when the calendar-imp component begins to load, and an error message if, for some reason, the component fails to load. ` The on keyword supports a wide a variety of other conditions, such as: - idle (when the browser has reached an idle state) - interaction (when the user interacts with a specified element) - hover (when the mouse has hovered over a trigger area) - timer(x) (triggers after a specified duration) - immediate (triggers the deferred load immediately) The second option of configuring when deferring happens is by using the when keyword. For example: ` Server-Side Rendering (SSR) Angular 17 has made server-side rendering (SSR) much more straightforward. Now, a --ssr option is included in the ng new command, removing the need for additional setup or configurations. When creating a new project with the ng new command, the CLI inquires if SSR should be enabled. As of version 17, the default response is set to 'No'. However, for version 18 and beyond, the plan is to enable SSR by default in newly generated applications. If you prefer to start with SSR right away, you can do so by initializing your project with the --ssr flag: ` For adding SSR to an already existing project, utilize the ng add command of the Angular CLI: ` Hydration In Angular 17, the process of hydration, which is essential for reviving a server-side rendered application on the client-side, has reached a stable, production-ready status. Hydration involves reusing the DOM structures rendered on the server, preserving the application's state, and transferring data retrieved from the server, among other crucial tasks. This functionality is automatically activated when server-side rendering (SSR) is used. It offers a more efficient approach than the previous method, where the server-rendered tree was completely replaced, often causing visible UI flickers. Such re-rendering can adversely affect Core Web Vitals, including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), leading to layout shifts. By enabling hydration, Angular 17 allows for the reuse of the existing DOM, effectively preventing these flickers. Support for View Transitions The new View Transitions API, supported by some browsers, is now integrated into the Angular router. This feature, which must be activated using the withViewTransitions function, allows for CSS-based animations during route transitions, adding a layer of visual appeal to applications. To use it, first you need to import withViewTransitions: ` Then, you need to add it to the provideRouter configuration: ` Other Notable Changes - Angular 17 has stabilized signals, initially introduced in Angular 16, providing a new method for state management in Angular apps. - Angular 17 no longer supports Node 16. The minimal Node version required is now 18.13. - TypeScript version 5.2 is the least supported version starting from this release of Angular. - The @Component decorator now supports a styleUrl attribute. This allows for specifying a single stylesheet path as a string, simplifying the process of linking a component to a specific style sheet. Previously, even for a single stylesheet, an array was required under styleUrls. Conclusion With the launch of Angular 17, the Angular Renaissance is now in full swing. This release has garnered such positive feedback that developers are showing renewed interest in the framework and are looking forward to leveraging it in upcoming projects. However, it's important to note that it might take some time for IDEs to adapt to the new templating syntax fully. While this transition is underway, rest assured that you can still write perfectly valid code using the old templating syntax, as all the changes in Angular 17 are backward compatible. Looking ahead, the future of Angular appears brighter than ever, and we can't wait to see what the next release has in store!...

Nov 20, 2023

6 mins

AngularTypeScriptJavaScript

Transforming Auth in an AI World with Rod Boothby

In today's digital landscape, the need for secure identity verification has become paramount. With the increasing risks of personal data exposure and the rise of sophisticated cyber threats aided by Artificial Intelligence, it is crucial to adopt robust verification processes to protect individuals and organizations alike. In a recent discussion with Rod Boothby, CEO of ID Partner Systems, the significance of trusted institutions for identity verification was emphasized, particularly the efficiency of bank-based ID verification over traditional methods. One of the key takeaways from the conversation was the importance of continuous authentication. As technology advances, so do the methods employed by cybercriminals. Deepfake technology, for instance, poses a significant threat to identity verification systems. To combat this, tighter security measures and continuous authentication are essential. By constantly verifying and validating user identities, organizations can stay one step ahead of potential fraudsters. Rod Boothby also highlighted the need for a developer-focused approach to identity verification. By providing developers with the tools and resources they need, companies like ID Partner Systems aim to streamline the verification process and enhance security. This approach not only ensures a more efficient experience for users but also allows for the integration of behavioral biometrics, which can further strengthen the verification process. Download this episode here....

Apr 22, 2024

1 min

Engineering Leadership

Improving INP in React and Next.js

Improving INP in React and Next.js In one of my previous articles, I've explained what INP is, how it works, and how it may affect your website. I also promised you to follow up with more concrete advice on how to improve your INP in your favorite framework. This is the follow-up article, where I'll focus on how to improve your INP score in React and Next.js. How to prepare for INP in React and Next.js? The first thing to do is to ensure you're using the latest version of React. The React team has been working on making React more INP-friendly and has already made some improvements in the latest versions. To enhance your INP score, consider fully taking advantage of new features introduced in React 18, such as Concurrent Rendering, Automatic Batching, and Selective Hydration. However, there are also some general areas to focus on, such as SSR and SSG in Next.js, Web Workers, or optimizing your hooks and state management. Concurrent Rendering The Concurrent Mode in React uses an algorithm that breaks rendering down into so-called "fiber nodes" and schedules the renders based on their expiration and priority. This effectively allows the user to interact with the page while the rendering is still in progress. In previous React versions, all updates, such as setState calls were treated as "urgent" and once the re-render had started, there was no way to interrupt it. Concurrent Mode changes this by being able to prioritize the updates and interrupt a non-blocking state update started with startTransition. For a simple explanation of concurrency in React, you can check out Dan Abramov's explanation. As part of the Concurrent Mode, React introduced several lifecycle methods that allow you to prioritize the rendering of certain parts of your UI, such as: - useTransition hook that allows you to update the state without blocking the UI, - useDeferredValue hook that allows you to defer the rendering of certain parts of your UI, - startTransition API that, similarly to the useTransition hook lets you mark a state update as non-blocking. It lacks, however, an indication of whether it's still pending. Automatic Batching Introduced in React 18, Automatic Batching reduces the number of re-renders that happen on state changes even when they happen outside of event handlers, e.g. in a setTimeout or Promise callback. This feature comes out of the box and you don't have to do anything to enable it, and it makes a great argument for upgrading to React 18. Selective Hydration Selective Hydration allows you to take hydration off the main thread by wrapping your components in a Suspense boundary. This way, components can become interactive faster as the browser can do other work on the main thread while the hydration is happening. To fully take advantage of selective hydration, consider the following: - Prioritizing Above-the-Fold Content: Use Suspense boundaries strategically around any parts of your application that may take the server longer to deliver to ensure they don’t block critical content from becoming interactive as soon as possible. - Hydration on Interaction: Implementing hydration upon user interaction for non-critical components can drastically reduce the main thread's workload, enhancing INP. Vercel even has a small case study showing how using selective hydration improved the performance of a Next.js site. Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG) in Next.js Not everything has to run client-side. Next.js excels in SSR and SSG capabilities, which can significantly impact INP by delivering content to users faster. Optimizing SSR with techniques like incremental static regeneration (ISR) or leveraging SSG for static pages ensures that users can interact with content faster, improving the perceived performance. Workers Offloading heavy computations to Web Workers can free up the main thread, enhancing the responsiveness of React and Next.js applications. This strategy is especially useful when dealing with third-party scripts. Offloading such scripts in Next.js can be easily done by specifying the "worker" strategy on your Script component. Be aware that this feature is not yet stable and does not work with the app directory, though. If you want to take things one step further, you could use Partytown, which helps you offload any resource-intensive scripts to Web Workers. It comes with a React component that you can use to wrap your third-party scripts and offload them to a Web Worker, and it's compatible with Next.js as well. Hooks and State Management State management in React applications can easily get out of hand, leading to unnecessary re-renders and effectively an increased INP. Sometimes, using a state management library like Redux or MobX can help you consolidate your state and reduce the number of re-renders. However, they are not silver bullets and can also introduce performance issues if not used properly. If you are dealing with a lot of re-renders due to prop changes, make sure you are leveraging memoization. As of now, you may need to work with useMemo and useCallback hooks to memoize your values and functions, respectively. The upcoming React 19’s Forget Compiler, however, will apparently memoize everything under the hood, making these hooks obsolete. Using memoization properly can help you reduce the number of re-renders and improve your INP. To investigate your hook dependencies and re-renders, you can leverage React Developer Tools or use this handy helper hook I found on the internet to trace your re-renders: ` Conclusion Improving INP in React and Next.js is not easy and can require much investigation and fine-tuning. Still, it's worth doing to avoid being penalized by Google in its search results and provide a better experience for your users. Adopting React 18's new features, leveraging SSR and SSG in Next.js, utilizing Web Workers, and optimizing hooks and state management can significantly boost your INP score and deliver a faster application to your users. Remember, INP is just one among many performance metrics emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach to performance optimization...

Apr 19, 2024

5 mins

Web PerformanceReactNextJSJavaScript

ANGULAR NEWS : Integrating Technologies with Angular, and Diversity Within the Community

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4 Angular Component Libraries That are Perfect for Beginners

Angular 17: Continuing the Renaissance

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Improving INP in React and Next.js

You might also like

4 Angular Component Libraries That are Perfect for Beginners

Angular 17: Continuing the Renaissance

Transforming Auth in an AI World with Rod Boothby

Improving INP in React and Next.js