DEV Community: Anastasia Kushnir

The Most Popular Angular UI Libraries to Try in 2021

Anastasia Kushnir — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 08:02:33 +0000

Introduction

Angular is one of the most popular JavaScript web frameworks.

Angular's approach to organizing the programmer's work involves hiding the execution of various service operations in the depths of the framework, giving the developer convenient tools built on the basis of internal mechanisms. Angular, like React, encourages the use of components and splitting the application interface into small reusable chunks.

We’ve made a list of libraries for Angular, which you may find useful in your next or current project. Most of them are designed for Angular2+, however, some of them are suitable for older versions of the framework. One of the advantages here is that you can extract individual components from Angular libraries and use them in a project without installing the entire library.

Clarity

Clarity is an open-source design system created by VMware that has 6.2K stars on GitHub. It is a combination of UX design guidelines, an HTML/CSS framework, and Angular components. Clarity provides developers with a rich set of high-performance data-bound components. A huge number of interactive elements can be implemented by using this library. Among them, there are accordion, date picker, login, signpost, timeline, toggle, and many others.

Visual components of Clarity library (source: https://clarity.design/)

Login component of Clarity library (source: https://clarity.design/)

Timeline component of Clarity library (source: https://clarity.design/)

Material

Material is an official Angular component library that implements Google's Material Design concepts. This library has 21.2K stars on GitHub. These UI components can be thought of as code examples, written according to the guidelines of the Angular development team. Among the interactive elements that can be implemented by using this library, there are autocomplete, form field, progress spinner, slider, stepper, tabs, and others.

Visual components of Material library (source: https://material.angular.io/)

NGX Bootstrap

The NGX Bootstrap library has about 5.3K stars on GitHub. Here you can find basic components that implement the capabilities of the Bootstrap template written specially for Angular. It is suitable for developing desktop and mobile applications and is designed with extensibility and adaptability in mind. One of the features of this library is a variety of element forms. Among the element forms that could be added to your application, accordion with custom HTML, various forms of carousels, pager pagination, and different ratings deserve special mention.

Custom HTML component of NGX Bootstrap library (source: https://valor-software.com/ngx-bootstrap/)

Basic carousel component of NGX Bootstrap library (source: https://valor-software.com/ngx-bootstrap/)

Prime NG

Prime NG is a library that includes an extensive set of more than 70 UI components. At the same time, different types of styling are available here, for example Material Design and Flat Design. Prime NG has approximately 6.6K stars on GitHub and is used by companies such as eBay, Fox, and many others. All this suggests that this library is worth the attention of those who are looking for a suitable set of components for their project. The library also includes the following features: different forms of fields, various buttons, menu forms, messages, toasts, a timeline, and many others.

Forms of Field component of Prime NG library (source: https://www.primefaces.org/primeng/)

Forms of Button component of Prime NG library (source: https://www.primefaces.org/primeng/)

Forms of Menu component of Prime NG library (source: https://www.primefaces.org/primeng/)

Message, Toast and Timeline components of Prime NG library (source: https://www.primefaces.org/primeng/)

NG Bootstrap

NG Bootstrap, a popular library that includes Bootstrap 4 style components for Angular, has around 7.7K stars on GitHub. It serves as a replacement for the angular-ui Bootstrap project, which is no longer supported. NG Bootstrap has a high level of test coverage and no third-party JS dependencies. The features that deserve to be highlighted are: datepicker with various options, different progress bars, basic table stylings, different toasts, and others.

Datepicker component of NG Bootstrap library (source: https://ng-bootstrap.github.io/)

Progress bar component of NG Bootstrap library (source: https://ng-bootstrap.github.io/)

Table component of NG Bootstrap library (source: https://ng-bootstrap.github.io/)

Forms of Toast component of NG Bootstrap library (source: https://ng-bootstrap.github.io/)

Teradata Covalent UI Platform

Teradata Covalent UI Platform has over 2.2K stars on GitHub. This library allows making code more easy-to-read with the help of style guides and design patterns. Thanks to the present configuration of this platform, developers can concentrate on the app functionality rather than on customization, and make the development process faster.

The Atomic Design Principles involve modular design and unite smaller components into bigger ones. This platform successfully follows these principles and, as an example, unites buttons into forms. Among other interesting features, there are user profiles, breadcrumbs, steppers, a text editor, and others.

User profile component of Teradata Covalent UI Platform library (source: https://teradata.github.io/covalent/v3/#/)

Stepper component of Teradata Covalent UI Platform library (source: https://teradata.github.io/covalent/v3/#/)

Text editor component of Teradata Covalent UI Platform library (source: https://teradata.github.io/covalent/v3/#/)

Nebular

Nebular has 6.9K stars on GitHub. It is a customizable component library that makes the application development process much simpler. Nebular has six visual themes and a big number of different customizable components. Also, it is worth mentioning that it has security modules that offer authentication and security layers for APIs. Among its components, there are steppers, spinners, chats, registration forms, and others.

Stepper component of Nebular library (source: https://akveo.github.io/nebular/)

Spinner component of Nebular library (source: https://akveo.github.io/nebular/)

Chat component of Nebular library (source: https://akveo.github.io/nebular/)

Registration form component of Nebular library (source: https://akveo.github.io/nebular/)

Onsen UI

The Onsen UI Library is a popular solution for developing hybrid and mobile apps for Android and iOS by using JavaScript. This library has 8.3K stars on GitHub, it uses bindings and allows you to use different visual styles.
Among other Onsen UI features, there are action sheets, alert dialogs, various buttons, popovers, and many others.

Action sheet component of Onsen UI library (source: https://onsen.io/angular2/)

Alert dialog component of Onsen UI library (source: https://onsen.io/angular2/)

Forms of Button component of Onsen UI library (source: https://onsen.io/angular2/)

Popover component of Onsen UI library (source: https://onsen.io/angular2/)

NG-Zorro

Components from the NG-Zorro library are fully typed in TypeScript. The goal of this project is to provide developers with high-end components for creating Ant Design style user interfaces. This interesting library was created by Chinese developers, it has about 7.4K stars on GitHub.
Its features include menu bars, page headers, sliders, avatars, and many others.

Forms of Page Header component of NG-Zorro library (source: https://ng.ant.design/docs/introduce/en)

Forms of Slider component of NG-Zorro library (source: https://ng.ant.design/docs/introduce/en)

Forms of Avatar component of NG-Zorro library (source: https://ng.ant.design/docs/introduce/en)

Vaadin

Visual elements from the Vaadin library are designed to bridge the gap between Angular components and Polymer elements. This library supports Material Design and contains components suitable for mobile and desktop development. It should be noted that its components are stored in separate repositories.
Other notable features are split layouts, buttons, app layouts, upload Forms, and many others.

App Layout component of Vaadin library (source: https://vaadin.com/)

NG Semantic-UI

The NG Semantic-UI library includes 27 components and has about 1K stars on GitHub. It is based on the popular Semantic-UI front-end solution, presented as components for Angular applications.
It includes such tools as cards, loaders, accordions, menus, and many others.

Card component of NG Semantic-UI library (source: https://ng-semantic.herokuapp.com/#/)

Forms of Menu component of NG Semantic-UI library (source: https://ng-semantic.herokuapp.com/#/)

NG2 Charts

The NG2 Charts is a library, which has 1.9K stars on GitHub. It gives the developer Angular directives for creating six types of charts, with the properties based on chart.js. This library can be used to render large datasets and display lists.
It supports line charts, bar charts, doughnut charts, radar charts, pie charts, polar area charts, bubble charts, scatter charts, and others.

Line Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Bar Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Doughnut Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Radar Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Pie Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Polar Area Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Bubble Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Scatter Chart of NG2 Charts library (source: https://valor-software.com/ng2-charts/#/LineChart)

Conclusion

Despite the fact that usage of Angular is reduced, according to the latest research of State of JS, many professionals still prefer Angular development thanks to its advantages over others frameworks. So, it is very important for future applications to follow all the design trends and be on the same wavelength with users. With the help of libraries that allow you to implement visual elements fitting your application, you can create an outstanding app that your users will love.

10 reasons why your eCommerce store needs a mobile app

Anastasia Kushnir — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 09:10:07 +0000

Introduction

The main asset of any e-commerce business is usually considered to be a highly optimized and well-designed online store. Retailers are still hesitant if they need to create a mobile app that will copy their existing site. However, they definitely have to do it, and here's why.

In 2016, Google published a study [1] in which 58% of mobile users use their smartphones to monitor prices, offers, and discounts, check reviews, compare products, and even purchase products. What's more, 66% of those people used their device to make a purchase at least once a week. Thus, it might seem that 38% of purchases made via mobile devices are not that high for mobile devices. However, every online store owner should remember that customers firstly use their smartphones to check available offers, and only then - their desktops. Given these statistics, plenty of questions arise: Isn't a responsive site a better alternative to a mobile app, or isn't a responsive site alone enough to run e-commerce? This may be enough, but nothing more. In this article, we'll take a look at the main benefits that mobile apps offer.

1. New sales channel

Is your online store already presented in Bing, Google Search, and social networks? Then it's time to move to a new level - to create a mobile application for your store and place it in the Google Play Market. Customers will be able to buy your products directly from their smartphones. Your shop icon will always be on their screen.

Google Play is the largest platform with millions of users around the world. All the market leaders are already there: ASOS, Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, etc. This is a reason to create your own application.

2. Gather a loyal audience and a base of regular customers

Mobile solutions make the connection between online stores and customers stronger. Online shoppers who use their smartphones to shop prefer the apps that their favourite stores offer. Plus, when the app is on the customer's screen, they are more likely to return to your store.

How to get people to download and install the app? Just offer them personalized offers or limited discounts to encourage them to install your app. This will automatically build up your customer base. Your regular customers’ retention generates you constant profit without advertising costs, therefore, the more there are, the better.

3. Increase in the number of orders

Flurry Analytics claims that users spend 90% of their time interacting with their mobile devices in apps [2]. Experts believe that now this is the age of mobile applications. The statistics also show that 79% of smartphone users use one or more online store applications [3].

More than 50% of buyers are already entering stores from mobile devices, and this percentage will continue to grow. Make their purchases convenient with the app, and then they will buy from you rather than looking for more convenient stores and competitors' apps!

How can you find out from which device visitors enter your store?
The number of visitors from mobile devices is easy to see in your counter. You can use Google Analytics for this purpose. If you do not track these statistics for your store, it makes sense to reconfigure the counters and analyze: who visits you and from what devices. This data will help make the site convenient for all of your visitors.

Technologies have recently reached a level where buying from a mobile device has become as convenient as from a computer. Be faster than competitors, create your own mobile application, and use all its capabilities to the fullest.

4. Automated round-the-clock sales

The application works automatically and does not require complex configuration, you do not have to look for additional employees. You connect applications once in the store control panel and then everything works by itself. All prices are updated by ourselves. You can also manage the application from the store's administrative control panel.

So, in order to remain competitive, your business should have not only a website that supports the most popular mobile browsers, systems, and their versions, but also its own mobile application, because:

● app users are more involved in the buying process and are willing to buy more;
● when your app icon is on your customer's screen, they are more likely to return to your store again;
● you can also pay directly from your phone, online - this reduces the consideration time to a minimum.

Thus, the mobile application increases conversion and average purchase order, helps maintain relationships with customers, motivates them to make new purchases, and recommends the store to friends and family. The world is changing very quickly, and therefore you need to constantly improve your business so as not to be left out.

5. Faster content loading

Few online retailers realize that a slow-loading website can damage your business. Customers hate slow sites and often go to other market participants due to the lack of a positive user experience. According to Kissmetrics, if a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 40% of visitors will go straight to another site [4]. This is why online shopping needs to be fast enough to build a solid core of repeat customers. This is where mobile apps have a huge advantage over websites. Since mobile shopping apps do not need an internet connection to provide users with basic functionality such as comparing products or checking prices, they make good use of the device's full performance. In turn, sites need a constant Internet connection to update any part of their content.

However, this does not mean that speed is irrelevant for mobile applications. They also need to be fast, because the same rule still applies in this situation. Users tend to uninstall an app from their devices if it takes too long to download or complete any operations with it.

6. A better UI than on a website

The absence of the need for constant access to the Internet for the application to work increases the convenience of its use. This allows applications to load heavy animations or high definition images much faster, making the design of an e-commerce application stylish, modern, and vibrant.

The architecture of the application allows developers to create exclusive and useful features with intuitive navigation. Another advantage that an online store on Android or iOS provides is the ability to implement gamification. It has become a trend in app development as gamification creates higher levels of interactivity and user experience.

7. Greater interactivity

Mobile apps encourage smartphone users to share links to their favourite sites or ask friends to share their opinion on a particular product or service by using social media. This marketing channel is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to promote your products. Every loyal customer who has your mobile app automatically becomes a live platform for advertising your online store on social media like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. People admire exclusive things. Make a special offer for those who have installed your application and they will be happy to share a few links to your site.

8. Using built-in smartphone features

Modern mobile applications provide various options for more seamless user interaction. The website cannot provide customers with the option to use the built-in camera to show their friends their new clothes without leaving the site. With the help of the app, this becomes a simple action for a few seconds. Another way to increase user engagement is to implement a voice recognition feature that will allow users to navigate menus or subscribe to newsletters. Also, for example, your application can show the location of the nearest offline store using GPS.

9. Increase conversions with push notifications

Most of the popular mobile e-commerce apps regularly send push notifications to smartphone owners. Compared to traditional SMS, push notifications are a cheaper advertising channel. They eliminate the need for databases containing user phone numbers. What's more, push notifications are more effective than emails, as they are always available to users if they haven't turned off notifications on their device. In addition, there is no spam folder for push notifications and it is difficult to ignore them.

10. Increase the average check

As practice shows, most authorized users make orders through the application. This allows the seller to make them personal offers, give additional bonuses, and implement individualized discount programs. High speed of loading catalogues, comfortable usability, additional functionality such as a recommendation system, the ability to compare commodity items, and wishlist have a positive effect on customer loyalty.

Conclusion

Mobile app development is a necessary step for e-commerce business owners. A website with a responsive design is a sufficient measure only at the first stages of a project to test a business idea or market. To gain significant market share, it is necessary to develop an online store for Android and iOS platforms, which will provide a fertile ground for implementing advanced marketing techniques to attract more customers and increase revenue.

Author’s bio:

Anastasia Kushnir is a writer at Bamboo Agile, an Estonia-based development company. She prefers writing about the trends in modern technologies and digital solutions for e-Commerce, education, and healthcare.

List of resources:

[1] https://storage.googleapis.com/think/docs/app-marketing-mobile-shopping.pdf
[2] https://www.flurry.com/blog/seven-years-into-the-mobile-revolution-content-is/
[3] https://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statistics
[4] https://neilpatel.com/blog/loading-time/