.ngml - Angular Markup Language

A more concise alternative to HTML, compatible with plain HTML and angular templates

Example

Here is an example in .html from the angular docs:

<!--html example-->
<h4>Tabs Demo</h4>
<ui-tabs>
  <template ui-pane title='Overview' active="true">
    You have {{details.length}} details.
  </template>
  <template *ngFor="#detail of details" ui-pane [title]="detail.title">
    {{detail.text}} <br><br>
    <button class="btn" (click)="removeDetail(detail)">Remove</button>
  </template>
  <template ui-pane title='Summary'>
    Next last ID is {{id}}.
  </template>
</ui-tabs>
<hr>
<button class="btn" (click)="addDetail()">Add Detail</button>

And here is the same example in .ngml

//ngml example
h4(Tabs Demo);
ui-tabs{
    template[ui-pane, title:Overview, active:true](You have {{details.length}} details.);
    template[ui-pane, *ngFor:#detail of details, @title:detail.title]({{detail.text}}){
        br;br;
        button.btn[&click:removeDetail(detail)](Remove);
    }
    template[ui-pane, title:Summary](Next last ID is {{id}}.);
}
hr;
button.btn[@click:addDetail()](Add Detail);

Benefits

• ngml is more compact (~80% smaller) which makes it easier to type and refactor

• the simplicity makes it easier to read the important parts without the clutter of closing tags and quotation marks

• Syntax style is c-like, largely based on less/sass which makes it easier to learn.

• Abstraction of html allows for customisation of output eg [title]="detail.title" vs bind-title="detail.title"

• cleaner multiline attributes. In angular you often end up with lots of attributes on the same line, and trying to make that readable can be a nightmare. Taking a (rather verbose) example from Ionic 2's code (https://github.com/driftyco/ionic/blob/2.0/ionic/components/searchbar/searchbar.ts), which is more readable to you? Single Line HTML

  <input [value]="value" (input)="inputChanged($event)" (blur)="inputBlurred()" (focus)="inputFocused()" class="searchbar-input" type="search" [attr.placeholder]="placeholder" autocomplete="off" autocorrect="off" autocapitalize="off" spellcheck="false">

Formatted HTML

<input 
    [value]="value" 
    (input)="inputChanged($event)" 
    (blur)="inputBlurred()" 
    (focus)="inputFocused()" 
    class="searchbar-input" 
    type="search" 
    [attr.placeholder]="placeholder" 
    autocomplete="off" 
    autocorrect="off" 
    autocapitalize="off" 
    spellcheck="false">

ngml:

input.searchbar-input[
    @value:value 
    &input:inputChanged($event) 
    &blur:inputBlurred() 
    &focus:inputFocused() 
    class:searchbar-input 
    type:search 
    @attr.placeholder:placeholder 
    autocomplete:off 
    autocorrect:off 
    autocapitalize:off 
    spellcheck:false
];

Todo

• Compiler
• Gulp plugin
• Webpack loader plugin
• Sourcemapping
• Online demo
• Intellij syntax plugin
• Sublime syntax plugin