Angular v18 – All You Need to Know About Material 3

Material Design is a popular design language created by Google that is used in many web and mobile applications. Material Design provides guidelines for creating clean, modern, and user-friendly interfaces. In Angular, Material Design components can be easily integrated into your projects using Angular Material, which is a set of UI components specifically designed for Angular.

Angular Material 2 has been widely used in Angular projects, but recently, Material 3 has been released with some exciting new features and enhancements. In this tutorial, we will explore the latest features and updates in Material 3 and how to integrate them into your Angular v18 projects.

1. Installing Angular Material 3:

To start using Angular Material 3 in your Angular v18 project, you need to install the Angular Material package. You can do this by running the following command in your project directory:

ng add @angular/material

This command will install the latest version of Angular Material 3 and prompt you to choose a theme for your application. You can choose between pre-built themes like Indigo Pink, Deep Purple Amber, and more. Once the installation is complete, you can start using Material components in your project.

1. Updating Existing Angular Material 2 Components to Material 3:

If you already have Angular Material 2 components in your project and want to upgrade them to Material 3, you can do so by updating the package version in your package.json file. Simply replace the version number of @angular/material and @angular/cdk with the latest version of Material 3.

After updating the package versions, you may need to update the code of your Angular Material components to align with the latest changes in Material 3. You can refer to the official Angular Material documentation for guidance on how to update your components.

1. New Features in Material 3:

Material 3 brings several new features and improvements to Angular Material components. Some of the key updates in Material 3 include:

• Improved performance: Material 3 components have been optimized for better performance and smoother animations.
• New components: Material 3 introduces new components like Bottom Sheet, Image Cropper, and Portal, expanding the range of UI elements available for Angular applications.
• Accessibility enhancements: Material 3 focuses on improving accessibility features in components to ensure a better user experience for all users.
• Dark mode support: Material 3 includes built-in support for dark mode, allowing users to switch between light and dark themes easily.

1. Using Material 3 Components in Angular v18:

Once you have installed Angular Material 3 in your Angular v18 project, you can start using Material components in your application. To add a Material component to your template, you need to import the required module in your Angular module file and then use the component selector in your HTML template.

For example, to add a button component to your template, you can import the MatButtonModule module in your module file:

import { MatButtonModule } from '@angular/material/button';

And then use the mat-button selector in your HTML template to add a button:

<button mat-button>Click me</button>

You can explore the full list of Material 3 components and their usage in the official Angular Material documentation.

In conclusion, Angular Material 3 brings exciting new features and enhancements to Angular applications, making it easier to create modern and user-friendly interfaces. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can integrate Material 3 components into your Angular v18 projects and take advantage of the latest Material Design updates.