DEV Community

Nhan Nguyen
Nhan Nguyen

Posted on

4

Angular’s Shift Towards Native Style and Class Bindings: What You Need to Know

Angular is evolving its approach to managing styles and classes, shifting towards native bindings over ngStyle and ngClass. Here's what you need to know about this change and how it impacts your projects.

What’s Changing?

The Angular team has introduced updates to encourage developers to use native [style] and [class] bindings instead of ngStyle and ngClass. While the directives remain functional, this shift aligns Angular with modern web standards and promotes cleaner, more performant code.

Why the Shift?

1. Performance Gains: Native bindings directly manipulate DOM properties, reducing overhead.

2. Simplified Debugging: Eliminates intermediary directives, making the code more predictable.

3. Closer Alignment with Web Standards: Moves Angular closer to HTML and JavaScript best practices.

New Syntax

Here’s how you can transition:

1. Replacing ngStyle:

<!-- Before -->
<div [ngStyle]="{ color: 'red', 'font-size': '20px' }"></div>
<!-- Now -->
<div [style.color]="'red'" [style.fontSize.px]="20"></div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2. Replacing ngClass:

<!-- Before -->
<div [ngClass]="{ 'active': isActive, 'disabled': isDisabled }"></div>
<!-- Now -->
<div [class.active]="isActive" [class.disabled]="isDisabled"></div>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Backward Compatibility

For now, ngStyle and ngClass are still supported, so there’s no immediate risk of breaking changes. However, the recommendation to use native bindings hints at a possible future deprecation. Transitioning early ensures your projects are future-proof.

Benefits of Native Bindings

1. Cleaner Code: Reduces Angular-specific abstractions.

2. Better Integration: Simplifies interoperability with other frameworks and libraries.

3. Improved Performance: Direct DOM property updates minimize rendering overhead.

Should You Refactor?

If you’re starting a new project, adopting the latest style and class-binding practices is a good idea. For existing projects, refactor gradually, especially in areas that heavily use dynamic styles and classes.

Conclusion

This update reinforces Angular's commitment to modern web practices, making applications more efficient and maintainable. While ngStyle and ngClass remain functional for now, embracing native bindings will keep your projects aligned with Angular’s evolving best practices.

Stay updated with Angular’s releases and prepare for smoother transitions in the future!

Check these pull requests here:

  • refactor(common): deprecate ngStyle and ngClass #58860

  • docs: update class & style binding recommendation #59240


I hope you found it helpful. Thanks for reading. 🙏
Let's get connected! You can find me on:

Billboard image

The Next Generation Developer Platform

Coherence is the first Platform-as-a-Service you can control. Unlike "black-box" platforms that are opinionated about the infra you can deploy, Coherence is powered by CNC, the open-source IaC framework, which offers limitless customization.

Learn more

Top comments (0)

The Most Contextual AI Development Assistant

Pieces.app image

Our centralized storage agent works on-device, unifying various developer tools to proactively capture and enrich useful materials, streamline collaboration, and solve complex problems through a contextual understanding of your unique workflow.

👥 Ideal for solo developers, teams, and cross-company projects

Learn more

👋 Kindness is contagious

Explore a sea of insights with this enlightening post, highly esteemed within the nurturing DEV Community. Coders of all stripes are invited to participate and contribute to our shared knowledge.

Expressing gratitude with a simple "thank you" can make a big impact. Leave your thanks in the comments!

On DEV, exchanging ideas smooths our way and strengthens our community bonds. Found this useful? A quick note of thanks to the author can mean a lot.

Okay