What is Angular Material?
Answer
Angular Material is the official component library for Angular, implementing Google's Material Design specification. It provides a comprehensive set of UI components that are accessible, responsive, and well-tested. Install: ng add @angular/material — configures theme, typography, animations automatically. Component categories: Form controls: Autocomplete, Checkbox, Datepicker, Form field, Input, Radio, Select, Slider, Slide toggle; Navigation: Menu, Sidenav, Toolbar; Layout: Card, Divider, Expansion panel, Grid list, List, Stepper, Tabs, Tree; Buttons/Indicators: Button, Button toggle, Badge, Chips, Icon, Progress bar, Progress spinner; Popups/Modals: Bottom sheet, Dialog, Snack bar, Tooltip; Data table: Paginator, Sort, Table. Usage: import the specific module for each component: import { MatButtonModule } from "@angular/material/button";. Theming: Angular Material supports custom themes with 3-5 palettes (primary, accent, warn). Theming uses CSS custom properties (Material Design 3 / Material You). CDK (Component Dev Kit): the underlying primitives Angular Material is built on — available for building custom components: overlays, drag-and-drop, virtual scrolling, accessibility utilities. Angular Flex Layout: (deprecated — use CSS Flexbox/Grid directly). Angular CDK Virtual Scroll: cdk-virtual-scroll-viewport — efficiently renders large lists by only rendering visible items.