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Last updated on Dec 27, 2024
Last updated on Dec 27, 2024
Software Development Executive - II
Swift Dynamic Type is a powerful tool that enhances the accessibility and usability of your iOS apps. It allows users to adjust the text size according to their needs, providing a more consistent reading experience across various devices and contexts.
In this blog, you’ll learn how to create apps that support dynamic type, use custom fonts while maintaining accessibility, and implement predefined text styles effectively.
Let’s dive in to master the art of building accessible, user-friendly iOS applications.
The dynamic type feature allows users to adjust text sizes based on their preferences, which helps users who need larger text for better readability or those who prefer smaller text for fitting more content on the screen. By integrating support for dynamic type, your app respects the system's text size settings, enabling accessibility features seamlessly. This ensures that the textual content displayed in your app caters to users with diverse needs, including those relying on accessibility settings.
• Provides better readability for users with visual impairments.
• Adapts to the font size preferences set in the system’s accessibility settings.
• Ensures a more consistent reading experience across apps.
• Reduces effort for developers by leveraging built-in text styles.
To implement dynamic type, you must integrate scalable fonts and leverage the predefined text styles provided by Apple. Here's a step-by-step guide.
Apple provides predefined text styles such as body, headline, and largeTitle. These are designed to adapt automatically to dynamic type settings.
1let label = UILabel() 2label.font = UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: .body) 3label.adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory = true
In this example:
• UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: .body) retrieves the preferred font for the body text style.
• adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory ensures the label updates when the user changes the size category.
Using interface builder, you can enable dynamic type for text elements without writing code:
Select a UILabel, UITextField, or UITextView.
In the Attributes Inspector, set the Font to a System Font.
Check the "Automatically Adjust Font" option.
This ensures that your text elements support dynamic type and adapt to user settings.
While default fonts work well with dynamic type, you might want to use a custom font to match your app’s design. The challenge is to ensure the custom font scales correctly with accessibility settings.
Use UIFontMetrics to scale custom fonts dynamically.
1let customFont = UIFont(name: "CustomFontName", size: 17)! 2let scaledFont = UIFontMetrics(forTextStyle: .body).scaledFont(for: customFont) 3label.font = scaledFont 4label.adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory = true
This approach ensures that your custom fonts maintain compatibility with dynamic type, offering better readability and support for users who need larger text.
To avoid layout issues when text sizes increase:
• Use a scroll view to accommodate textual content that overflows.
• Adjust constraints to ensure more space is available for text to appear on the screen.
1let scrollView = UIScrollView() 2let label = UILabel() 3label.numberOfLines = 0 4scrollView.addSubview(label) 5// Set constraints to handle dynamic content size
By integrating a scroll view, you ensure users can still access all textual content, even at maximum accessibility size.
Always test your app’s dynamic type support to ensure a flawless user experience:
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Larger Text.
Adjust the slider to test your app’s response to different size categories.
Use Xcode’s Accessibility Inspector to verify your app’s behavior with larger and smaller text sizes.
If your app uses system fonts, the default font size automatically supports dynamic type. For apps that use custom fonts, ensure they are scaled to match the font sizes of the system's text size settings.
1let defaultFont = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17) // Default size 2let dynamicFont = UIFontMetrics(forTextStyle: .body).scaledFont(for: defaultFont)
This code combines the advantages of a default font with the flexibility of scaling.
When working with text elements, ensure the following:
• Use appropriate text styles for all UI components (e.g., labels, buttons).
• Avoid hardcoding font sizes; always rely on preferred fonts or scalable custom fonts.
• Make layouts flexible to adapt to changes in the size of textual content.
By incorporating Swift Dynamic Type into your app, you create a user-friendly experience that respects individual preferences and accessibility needs. Whether you use custom fonts or stick with default fonts, always ensure they support dynamic type. This will not only help users but also enhance the overall usability of your app. By following these best practices, you’ll provide a more consistent reading experience, helping users who rely on accessibility features like larger text or smaller text for convenience.
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