How to used a named UIColor in code and Interface Builder

Swift version: 5.1

Paul Hudson @twostraws May 28th 2019

Since Xcode 9.0 we’ve been able to create named colors directly inside asset catalogs, which means it’s possible to select a precise color once then use it uniformly across all code and storyboards.

To try this out, open your asset catalog, click the + button, then choose New Color Set from the menu that appears. Select the new color that got created – it will be a large white square – then press Alt+Cmd+4 to activate the attributes inspector so that you can customize it.

Named colors are comprised of two rather obvious parts: a name (e.g. “PayPal blue”) and a color, which you can specify as ranges from 0-1, ranges from 0-255, or hexadecimal.

Once a named color is in place you can use it code like this:

myView.backgroundColor = UIColor(named: "Chartreuse")

You can also use it inside storyboards by selecting it from the color dropdown menu – all your named colors will automatically be shown in their own section of the menu.

Available from iOS 11.0