Angular Basics: Best Practices for Creating a New Angular Project

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, this guide will provide you with the knowledge and tools to create a successful Angular project.

Angular is a popular open-source framework that can help you create robust and scalable web apps quickly and efficiently. Its powerful features and large community make it a top choice for developers.

However, creating a new Angular project can be daunting, especially for those who are new to the framework. With so many options and techniques to choose from, it can be challenging to know where to start.

In this blog, we will be discussing the best practices for creating a new Angular project. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, this guide will provide you with the knowledge and tools to create a successful Angular project. So, let’s get started!

Importance of Optimizing Performance in Angular Projects

Optimizing performance in Angular projects is crucial for creating a positive user experience, improving SEO, reducing costs, scaling effectively and making the codebase more maintainable. A well-optimized Angular application will handle more traffic, respond quickly to user interactions and be more cost-effective. It will also be scalable and maintainable, making it easier to debug and update.

Use Ahead-of-Time (AOT) Compilation

Ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation is a way to precompile Angular applications at build time, rather than at runtime. This improves the performance of the application by reducing load times, reducing the payload size and providing better type checking. It also improves security by eliminating the possibility of Angular’s template injection attacks.

To use AOT compilation in an Angular project, you need to use the Angular CLI (Command Line Interface) to build the application. By default, the CLI uses Just-in-Time (JIT) compilation, but you can use the --aot flag to enable AOT compilation.

For example, to build an Angular application in AOT mode, you can run the following command:

ng build --aot

Additionally, if you’re using Angular CLI version 6 or later, you can set the default build target to AOT using the following command:

ng config projects.<projectName>.architect.build.options.aot true

Use Lazy Loading

Lazy loading is a technique in Angular that allows for loading parts of the application on-demand, rather than loading everything at once. This can improve the performance of the application by reducing both the initial load time and the amount of memory required to run the application.

To use lazy loading in Angular, you can use the Angular Router. The router allows you to define lazy-loaded routes, which are only loaded when the user navigates to them. Here is an example of how to use lazy loading in Angular:

Create a new module for the lazy-loaded route. This module should have its own components, services and routes.

In the main routing module, import the new module and add it as a child route. Use the loadChildren property to specify the path to the new module’s file.

const routes: Routes = [
  { path: 'lazy', loadChildren: './lazy/lazy.module#LazyModule' },
  //other routes
];

Update the component’s template to include a router outlet for the lazy-loaded route.

<router-outlet></router-outlet>

Minimize the Use of @Input and @Output

When creating a new Angular project, it is a best practice to minimize the use of @Input and @Output. These decorators allow for communication between components, but overusing them can lead to a tightly coupled and difficult-to-maintain codebase. Instead, consider using a centralized state management solution, such as NgRx or Akita, to handle communication between components and manage the application’s state.

This approach can make the codebase more modular, easier to test and debug, and more scalable. Additionally, it’s also a good practice to have a single source of truth for the state of the application and avoid having multiple state management solutions.

Use OnPush Change Detection

One of the best practices for creating a new Angular project is to use OnPush change detection. By default, Angular uses a change detection strategy called “Default” which checks for changes in all components on every browser event (e.g., mouse click, key press). However, this can be resource-intensive and lead to slow performance.

OnPush change detection, on the other hand, only checks for changes in a component when an input value changes, or an event is emitted by an element in the component’s template. This can greatly improve performance, especially in large and complex applications.

For more info you can check the documentation.

Use a Production-Ready Build

When creating a new Angular project, it is important to use a production-ready build. This means that the build should be optimized for performance and security, and should include features such as minification, tree-shaking and ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation.

Minification reduces the size of the code by removing unnecessary whitespace and comments. Tree-shaking removes unused code from the build, further reducing the size of the code. AOT compilation, as discussed, precompiles the application’s components and templates at build time, which improves the performance, security and debugging of the application.

Using a production-ready build ensures that the application will perform well and be secure in a production environment. It also allows for easy deployment, as the application will be ready for use in a production environment once the build is complete.

To achieve this, Angular CLI provides an option to create a production build by running the ng build --prod command. Additionally, there are other options available, such as using webpack, which provides more control over the build process and further optimization.

Modular Architecture

Modular architecture allows for better organization and maintainability of the codebase. With modular architecture, functionality is organized into individual feature modules and shared modules.

Feature modules contain the components, services, and directives specific to a certain feature. This allows for better separation of concerns and makes it easier to understand and update the code. Shared modules contain code that is shared across multiple feature modules, such as services, pipes and directives. This allows for code reuse and reduces the amount of duplicate code in the application.

Linting

Linting is the process of automatically checking the code for potential errors and inconsistencies in code style. It is a best practice for creating a new Angular project as it helps to ensure consistent code style and catch potential errors before they become a problem. There are several popular linting tools available for Angular projects such as TSLint and ESLint.

These tools can be configured to enforce a specific code style and catch common mistakes. It’s important to integrate linting as part of the development process and run it before committing changes to the codebase. This will help to ensure that the codebase is maintainable, consistent and free of errors.

Keeping the Project and Dependencies Up to Date

Keeping the project and dependencies up to date is an important best practice for creating a new Angular project. Angular has a rapid release cycle, and staying current with the latest updates can help you take advantage of new features and fix security issues.

Use the command ng update in the terminal to check for updates for the current project, and ng update @angular/cli to check for updates for the Angular CLI.

It is also recommended to use a package manager like npm or Yarn to manage dependencies and keep them updated. Additionally, it is important to keep an eye on the project dependencies’ security advisories and update them as soon as possible if a vulnerability is discovered.

Final Words

Angular is a powerful tool for creating web applications. By following a few best practices, Angular can help you write concise web applications that are well organized. If you are new to Angular, I hope this blog has been helpful in getting started.

To learn more about Angular best practices, the latest in code trends, tips from the developer community and beyond, check out the premier developer conference, DevReach!