Is Angular still a good choice in 2021?

The reasons to choose Angular for your next project.

The JavaScript environment is full of libraries and frameworks, but with a multitude of options comes plenty of confusion. Finding the right technology is essential for saving weeks of production time and helps to speed up deployment, while the wrong tech can, in the long run, leave a project in shambles.

It has been almost a decade since Angular became one of the most influential and popular JavaScript frameworks, with a loyal fanbase and for a good reason: it is a full-featured and powerful tool. But, is it still worth opting for Angular in 2021?

In this article, we will take a look at just some of the reasons to choose Angular for your next project and how it will impact your business.

Made by Google, powered by Google

First of all, the fact that the framework was created by Google is for many developers a key benefit of this technology. The tech giant from California uses Angular internally for many of its applications and ensures that before any public release, the latest version has been used first-hand within the company. In addition, Google announced 18 months of long-term support (LTS) for all major Angular releases. Getting LTS basically means that any bugs related to browser incompatibility or security will be fixed during that period. The LTS for the newest version (Angular 11) will end in May 2022. As you can see, the technology has been with us for a while now and it looks like it’s here to stay. As with all code, it could eventually be replaced by something newer, but until then, Google will keep supporting Angular.

All you need is…

Getting started with Angular is simple. The default setup provides all the tools and components to install the application straight away. Everything you need is included in the official package and it is not necessary to install third-party libraries. But, if you want more, there is still an option. The framework is easy to integrate even with solutions from the React world, for example with Ngrx.

Documentation

Learning a new framework and identifying the right sources can be difficult. Angular is wildly popular for its exhaustive documentation, where developers can find all the necessary information. Since the technology has been around for a while, many useful answers on exact code-related questions can also be found on Stack Overflow.

Easy testing

Testing is one of the most important topics in software development. Badly written code can lead to poorly functioning programs or financial losses. Writing a good test will help detect issues as soon as they arise and prevent problems. Angular is not just a library. It is both a sophisticated framework and a complete platform. The technology offers everything from routing through templates, to testing utilities in its package. Because tests are included in Angular by default when you create a project, there is no excuse for not testing.

First impression counts

The visual side of a web application is essential. We only need a few seconds to form a first impression about a person and websites are no different. Angular helps create visually powerful applications by using the pre-built (predefined) UI components and modules, which follow Google’s Material Design principles. For example, to build the login page, we can use the various Material Design components, which contain the necessary basic code and are easy to generate using Angular CLI. Because all the components have predefined styles, we can build a great visual product faster. Still not sure? Angular Material documentation provides more examples.

Write once, run anywhere

Angular can be used to build web applications, native mobile apps or desktop applications for Mac, Windows, and Linux. You could say “So can React or Flutter”. The biggest difference however, is what you get in the base package. In contrast to React (which is, by Facebook’s own definition, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces), Angular is an all-in-one framework, and it has all the key built-in features.

SPAs

A more traditional approach to app development requires a page reload each time a user interacts with the website. All projects created with Angular are single-page applications (SPA) that load just part of the page and dynamically update it during use. What are the benefits of using SPAs? A faster site with better user experience. The website updates dynamically, so users don’t have to wait for the page to refresh. If you want to see a SPA in action, check out our self-booking tool or Netflix. The navigation within Netflix is performed without refreshing the entire page — a clear benefit of SPA architecture.

And for further examples of Angular projects, you can visit this website.

Don’t build pages, build modules

In Angular, everything is organized in modules. Whether you want it or not, angular apps are modular. The technology has its own modular system, NgModules. Using it, developers divide code into small, separate portions. There is only one suggested/optimal way to create modules, components or services, that guarantees a high consistency of code. Angular keeps each developer working in the same pattern. Moreover, no one has to think about components, which saves time and reduces production costs.

Angular Universal

Displaying a site quickly is crucial for positive user experience and SEO. Front-end performance, downloading HTML, CSS and JavaScript files for a browser page render significantly affects page speed. Angular provides utilities, such as Angular Universal, to deliver a rendered view faster.

Is the Google-developed framework still worthy in 2021? Yes. Angular is an up-to-date and efficient platform to build modern products. Since it is maintained and supported by Google, together with a huge community, the future of this technology looks bright. However, there is no framework which suits every project and the final decision should be always influenced by the type of the application and its complexity. That said, the Angular ecosystem is immense and continues to have a lot to offer. The core team releases two versions a year, at a six-month interval, and since the latest one was published in November 2020, we can still stay excited for what is yet to come.