Utilizing Consistent Styles Across Multiple Components within an Angular 2 Application

In my Angular 2 app, I have some CSS rules that are shared among multiple components. I don't want to duplicate these rules in each component's styles. Currently, I am considering two approaches:

  1. Storing common CSS rules in a static CSS file and linking it in the head section of my index.html file.
  2. Organizing common CSS rules in separate files and including them in the @Component decorator for each component, like this:
    styleUrls: [ './myComponentStyles.css', '../common/common.css']

The first approach seems less Angular-friendly, but it is simple and effective. The second approach requires more effort for each component, but it offers better control over which styles are used and allows for better organization and usage of common stylesheets.

Do you prefer one of these solutions, or do you have a different, better idea? :)

Answer №1

1. The solution provided here is quite effective, particularly for applying common styles to various components such as css grids. To give it more of an Angular touch, consider setting encapsulation for the app component to none:

`@Component({
     selector: 'my-app',
     template: `  `,
     styleUrls: ["shared.style.css"],
     encapsulation: ViewEncapsulation.None
}) export class App {}`  

View the demo here (plunker)

Note: Styles included this way (by simply adding a style tag or with non-encapsulation) will impact all elements on your pages. While this may be desirable for using a css framework across the entire project, it may not be the best approach if you only want to share styles among a few components.

 Summary: 
 (+) easy to use
 (-) no encapsulation

2. This solution is appealing due to its clarity and consistent behavior. However, there is a potential drawback:

It will insert a style tag with shared styles each time you utilize it. This could be an issue with large style files or multiple elements using it.

https://i.sstatic.net/S0UlN.png

@Component({
   selector: 'first',
   template: `<h2>  <ng-content> </ng-content> </h2>`,
   styleUrls: ["shared.style.css"]
})
export class FirstComponent {}

View the demo here (plunker)

 Summary:
 (+) easy to use
 (+) encapsulation
 (-) duplicates styles for every usage

3. Another option is to create an additional component that provides shared styles for its children.

  ` <styles-container>
    <first> first comp  </first>
  </styles-container>
  <styles-container>
    <second> second comp </second>
  </styles-container>`

In this case, you will need to use /deep/ in your styles to make them accessible to child components:

:host /deep/ h2 {
  color: red;
}

It is important to remember to use :host to restrict styles to only child elements. Omitting it will result in additional global styles being applied.

View the demo here (plunker)

Summary:
(-) requires creating a container in templates
(+) encapsulation
(+) avoids duplicated styles

Keep in mind: While the encapsulation of styles is a valuable feature, there is no way to restrict deep styles. Be cautious when applying deep styles, as they will impact all children elements.

Answer №2

When it comes to utilizing styling in an Angular2 application, there are three different approaches available. Two of these methods allow for the reuse of styles.

In my opinion, for larger applications, option #2 is preferable due to the view encapsulation feature provided by Angular.

Option #1 can be used for very generic styles that are common throughout the application. However, considering that the root of your single-page application will be an Angular component, there is no real necessity to choose a different approach for linking styles other than option #2.

Furthermore, working with CSS in two different ways requires remembering to handle this with extra code, especially when bundling the app and using tools like gulp-inline-ng2-template.

Answer №3

If you're looking ahead, I believe this approach stands out as the most effective.

Imagine you have 2 main components - products and customers - each with common styles that need to be shared.

1. Introduce an additional component

//customer-products-styles.component.ts
@Component({
  selector: "app-customer-products-styles",
  template: "",
  styleUrls: ["./customer-products-styles.component.scss"],
  encapsulation: ViewEncapsulation.None,
  changeDetection: ChangeDetectionStrategy.OnPush
})
export class CustomerProductsStylesComponent {}
//customer-products-styles.component.scss
app-products,
app-customers {
  p {
    color: coral;
  }
}

2. Implementation

<!-- Customers Component (app-customers) -->
<app-customer-products-styles></app-customer-products-styles>
<p>
  customers works!
</p>
<!-- Products Component (app-products) -->
<app-customer-products-styles></app-customer-products-styles>
<p>
  products works!
</p>

Advantages

  • Lazy-loading ensures the component is only loaded when the module chunk is downloaded, reducing the initial main.js size
  • By using component selectors (app-customers and app-products) as parents for styles, the scope remains within the component
  • No redundancy in styles and they are loaded only once in the browser, regardless of which component requests it first

Additional Tips

  • Set encapsulation to none, but include the component selector as the parent in the style
  • While changing the default changeDetection to OnPush is not necessary, it adds an extra layer of security

Check out the Working Stackblitz

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