Angular Evolvement: from the Appearance till Today

In this article, we want to discuss Angular (version 15 released 16.10.2022) and its advantages and disadvantages.

What is Angular?

Angular is а Google's framework. Developers need it to develop browser-based, desktop, and mobile applications. Angular works on the principle of SPA (single-page application).

The traditional approach to web applications before SPA was something like this:

1. The user goes to a website
2. The browser sends a server request to find the right address
3. The server finds the page and sends it to site
4. The user looks at that page and clicks on some links
5. The browser generates a second request, and the server assembles a new page and sends it back to the site again. The cycle repeats after each user action.

This can be compared to ordering food in a restaurant, with the difference that you can only order one dish at a time. You order a salad, eat it, and then order a hot meal.

Slow websites annoyed everyone, and the developers came up with SPA - first came the technology, then Angular and other tools for its implementation. SPA works like this:

1. The user enters the site
2. The browser sends a server request
3. The server returns the page at the requested URL
4. While the user is on the first page, the server packages and relays all the other pages in the background
5. When the user needs to go to another page, he or she already has everything loaded "in the background."

Single-page means that the site technically works on one page: there is a header, a footer, a menu, and the main "meat" of the page is loaded dynamically in the background, without the user.

Story behind Angular

First, AngularJS was created in 2010 - an open-source JavaScript framework that greatly changed the web development landscape. Its developers were improving AngularJS every year. In 2014, they announced a new version of Angular without backward compatibility with the previous one - AngularJS. To further separate the two branches, the old Angular was called AngularJS, and the new (Angular 2) was simply Angular.

For more on the current state of JavaScript frameworks and libraries, check out our article on the best JavaScript open-source projects to contribute.

The new Angular did not become less functional, but it became easier to learn: it reduced the number of abstractions that developers had to distinguish before. No more need to remember the difference between factories, controllers, services, and everything that easily confuses newbies. The code became simpler and more readable.

Angular 2 was rewritten with TypeScript. Strict typing made it easier for developers to understand the documentation and sort the source code.

JavaScript admirers were not offended, either: code could still be written in pure JS. Moreover, the creators paid attention to Dart - a branch for Angular + Dart development appeared. Now it is a separate project - Angular Dart.

New advanced Angular attracted corporate developers. They write and maintain applications that have lived for decades, so they appreciate a powerful framework that releases steadily while not changing too much. A developer who used to write only in Angular 2 can easily start developing in Angular 5 or Angular 15.

By the way, Angular 15 was released on 16.10.2022. New features in Angular 15:

1. Directive Composition API
2. Stable Standalone APIs
3. Tree-shakable Router API
4. HTTP with provideHttpClient
5. Functional Router Guard
6. Dynamic Router Outlet Names
7. Easy Lazy Loading
8. Stable Image Directive
9. Better stack traces
10. Mistyped banana in the Box
11. Component-Scoped keyframes
12. Compatibility for MDC Components
13. CDK Listbox

Additional Improvements in Angular 15:

• Ivy Landmark / Better Performance
• Angular DevTools
• Angular CLI
• More utility in forms package
• Deprecated Protractor
• Improvements in the esbuild support

Just like many members of the community, MaybeWorks developers were very excited about the great improvements in Angular.

UPD. Now that the new version is out, the Angular 17 new features bring even more enhancements to performance and usability.

Advantages and disadvantages of Angular

The framework allows developers to create more than just web applications. They can use it to write code adapted to other environments. For example, an application written in Angular can work on a mobile or desktop operating system.

Angular has its pros and cons. Advantages of Angular:

• There are a lot of functions. Developers can use them to create almost any solution and product for a business.
• All functions are interdependent, so the likelihood of errors is minimized.
• It is possible to work with a specific section of the program code rather than with all the data at once. This allows developers to work with specific elements.
• A good knowledge base and large community support allow developers to quickly get the information they need to implement the project.
• The CLI of the Angular framework makes it easy to create an application that runs by default.

Angular is suitable for serious corporate solutions. With the help of Angular, it is possible to create large platforms with a high level of load. It also fits well with website development trends, making it easy to scale products quickly in the future.

However, there are a few disadvantages of Angular:

• Time-consuming migration from Angular to AngularJS
• Limited SEO capabilities
• Too many versions
• Lot of boilerplate code
• Steeper learning curve

At the heart is a fairly complex programming language. You need a team of specialists who can work with this tool. Among companies that use Angular are PayPal, Upwork, The Guardian, Nike, HBO, Sony, and General Motors. For complex and large-scale projects, we recommend preferring Angular. If you need to implement a product with high performance but the development time is limited, choose React. We also recommend you read our article about AngularJS to React migration.

What can be developed with Angular?

Web projects developed on Angular are one of the most common today. Created more than 5 years ago, Angular effectively solves numerous problems of modern entrepreneurship in the field of E-commerce and not only. Angular can be used to develop:

• Single-page website. Angular is widely used to develop single-page websites. They are created so that when a person goes to a pseudo page, he or she does not download new information (only dynamic data is updated).
• Business card website. Many developers prefer Angular to quickly create a high-quality and functional website for business.
• Online store. The complex web development of extensive projects with Angular, such as online stores, necessarily requires the guidance of experienced developers. Qualified professionals will ensure the creation of a competent and correct structure for a high-loaded project.
• Complex project. Most of all, Angular is suitable precisely for constructing large websites with a rigid structure. It has many ready-made solutions, while a verified system of data collection and storage ensures reliable operation.
• Dashboards. Angular is also an excellent choice for developing data dashboards, allowing for real-time data visualization and interactive elements. It enables the creation of dynamic and responsive dashboards that can enhance data-driven decision-making. Read our article on dashboard development to learn more about best practices and techniques.

If your goal is a client-oriented website with versatile functionality, Angular will be a reliable and secure solution. Creating websites and web applications in Angular from scratch is characterized by:

• Regular updates. Automatic update of the platform to the latest version saves time for the team of experts to edit and build standard functionality.
• Flexibility. Programmers can extend the basic assortment in-house, designing the most user-friendly interfaces.
• Two-way data binding. Angular provides the ability to implement changes in one interface element while making changes in the other.
• Built-in capabilities. Angular provides the ability to create large-scale applications with complex business logic out of the box.

At MaybeWorks, developers specialize in Angular so that they can assist in the development of any complexity. If you’re looking for experts to handle your project, you can find Angular developers for hire who are ready to bring your vision to life.

MaybeWorks expertise in Angular development

The last project where our developers augmented the client`s team was a video editor launched on the Amazon store product. It allows the creation of small promotional videos based on product pages crawling the Amazon store product.

Our developers worked closely with the backend developer and UX designer from the client's team. Tasks completed:

• Image/video cropping within slides
• Preview section (where a user could preview his video before downloading it)
• Ability to attach music track to the whole video
• Style templates for the main editor screen
• 'Reviews' section
• Dashboard homepage (containing user's previous videos and templates)
• Refactor the code responsible for animations within the project and bug fixing

The project idea sounded interesting. With the client's flexibility, MaybeWorks experts provided the desired increment and even brought their own ideas to the workflow and within the code, resulting in a good collaboration.

Feel free to contact us to discuss assistance in your web product development with Angular.