How to provide visual structure using foreground styles

Paul Hudson @twostraws September 3rd 2021

Updated for Xcode 13.0 beta 5

New in iOS 15

SwiftUI provides a foregroundStyle() modifier to control the way text, images, and shapes are styled all at once. In its simplest form this is similar to using foregroundColor() with .secondary, but not only does it unlock more of the semantic colors – .tertiary and .quaternary, it also adds support for anything that conforms to ShapeStyle.

So, here’s an example of an image and some text rendered using quaternary style, which is the lowest of four importance levels for content:

HStack {
    Image(systemName: "clock.fill")
    Text("Set the time")
}
.font(.largeTitle.bold())
.foregroundStyle(.quaternary)

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A clock symbol beside the words “Set the time”, both in faint grey.

Like I said, anything that conforms to ShapeStyle also works, meaning that we can render our HStack with a red to black linear gradient using the same modifier:

HStack {
    Image(systemName: "clock.fill")
    Text("Set the time")
}
.font(.largeTitle.bold())
.foregroundStyle(
    .linearGradient(
        colors: [.red, .black],
        startPoint: .top,
        endPoint: .bottom
    )
)

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A clock symbol beside the words “Set the time”, both with a gradient running from red at the top to black at the bottom.