shepherdjerred/monorepo/apple-hig-helper

Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) Helper

Overview

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) provides comprehensive design guidance for creating great experiences across all Apple platforms. This skill provides access to 174 topics covering:

• 6 Apple Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS
• 40+ UI Components: Buttons, Menus, Alerts, Sheets, Lists, and more
• 20+ Design Patterns: Navigation, Modality, Feedback, Loading, Settings
• 30+ Apple Technologies: Apple Pay, Siri, HomeKit, CarPlay, ARKit, HealthKit
• Design Foundations: Color, Typography, Icons, Layout, Materials, Branding
• Accessibility & Inclusion: Guidelines for building apps everyone can use

Data Location: markdown/ Format: 174 Markdown documentation pages

Quick Reference: Major Topics with Summaries

Design Foundations

Color

Path: markdown/color/index.md

Judicious use of color can enhance communication, evoke your brand, provide visual continuity, communicate status and feedback, and help people understand information.

Typography

Path: markdown/typography/index.md

Your typographic choices can help you display legible text, convey an information hierarchy, communicate important content, and express your brand or style.

Icons

Path: markdown/icons/index.md

An effective icon is a graphic asset that expresses a single concept in ways people instantly understand.

Layout

Path: markdown/layout/index.md

A consistent layout that adapts to various contexts makes your experience more approachable and helps people enjoy their favorite apps and games on all their devices.

Materials

Path: markdown/materials/index.md

A material is a visual effect that creates a sense of depth, layering, and hierarchy between foreground and background elements.

Branding

Path: markdown/branding/index.md

Apps and games express their unique brand identity in ways that make them instantly recognizable while feeling at home on the platform and giving people a consistent experience.

Dark Mode

Path: markdown/dark-mode/index.md

Dark Mode is a systemwide appearance setting that uses a dark color palette to provide a comfortable viewing experience tailored for low-light environments.

Images

Path: markdown/images/index.md

To make sure your artwork looks great on all devices you support, learn how the system displays content and how to deliver art at the appropriate scale factors.

Accessibility & Inclusion

Accessibility

Path: markdown/accessibility/index.md

Accessible user interfaces empower everyone to have a great experience with your app or game.

Inclusion

Path: markdown/inclusion/index.md

Inclusive apps and games put people first by prioritizing respectful communication and presenting content and functionality in ways that everyone can access and understand.

Common UI Components

Buttons

Path: markdown/buttons/index.md

A button initiates an instantaneous action.

Menus

Path: markdown/menus/index.md

A menu reveals its options when people interact with it, making it a space-efficient way to present commands in your app or game.

Alerts

Path: markdown/alerts/index.md

An alert gives people critical information they need right away.

Sheets

Path: markdown/sheets/index.md

A sheet helps people perform a scoped task that's closely related to their current context.

Lists and Tables

Path: markdown/lists-and-tables/index.md

Lists and tables present data in one or more columns of rows.

Pickers

Path: markdown/pickers/index.md

A picker displays one or more scrollable lists of distinct values that people can choose from.

Sliders

Path: markdown/sliders/index.md

A slider is a horizontal track with a control, called a thumb, that people can adjust between a minimum and maximum value.

Toggles

Path: markdown/toggles/index.md

A toggle lets people choose between a pair of opposing states, like on and off, using a different appearance to indicate each state.

Text Fields

Path: markdown/text-fields/index.md

A text field is a rectangular area in which people enter or edit small, specific pieces of text.

Design Patterns

Modality

Path: markdown/modality/index.md

Modality is a design technique that presents content in a separate, dedicated mode that prevents interaction with the parent view and requires an explicit action to dismiss.

Navigation and Search

Path: markdown/navigation-and-search/index.md

Help people navigate and find content efficiently.

Feedback

Path: markdown/feedback/index.md

Feedback helps people know what's happening, discover what they can do next, understand the results of actions, and avoid mistakes.

Loading

Path: markdown/loading/index.md

The best content-loading experience finishes before people become aware of it.

Settings

Path: markdown/settings/index.md

People expect apps and games to just work, but they also appreciate having ways to customize the experience to fit their needs.

Onboarding

Path: markdown/onboarding/index.md

Onboarding can help people get a quick start using your app or game.

Platform-Specific Guidelines

Designing for iOS

Path: markdown/designing-for-ios/index.md

People depend on their iPhone to help them stay connected, play games, view media, accomplish tasks, and track personal data in any location and while on the go.

Designing for iPadOS

Path: markdown/designing-for-ipados/index.md

People value the power, mobility, and flexibility of iPad as they enjoy media, play games, perform detailed productivity tasks, and bring their creations to life.

Designing for macOS

Path: markdown/designing-for-macos/index.md

People rely on the power, spaciousness, and flexibility of a Mac as they perform in-depth productivity tasks, view media or content, and play games, often using several apps at once.

Designing for tvOS

Path: markdown/designing-for-tvos/index.md

People enjoy the vibrant content, immersive experiences, and streamlined interactions that tvOS delivers in media and games, as well as in fitness, education, and home utility apps.

Designing for visionOS

Path: markdown/designing-for-visionos/index.md

When people wear Apple Vision Pro, they enter an infinite 3D space where they can engage with your app or game while staying connected to their surroundings.

Designing for watchOS

Path: markdown/designing-for-watchos/index.md

When people glance at their Apple Watch, they know they can access essential information and perform simple, timely tasks whether they're stationary or in motion.

Complete Topic Index (All 174 Topics)

By Category

Foundations (9 topics)

• accessibility
• branding
• color
• dark-mode
• icons
• images
• layout
• materials
• typography

Components - Content (11 topics)

• activity-rings
• charts
• gauges
• image-views
• labels
• lockups
• progress-indicators
• rating-indicators
• text-views
• web-views
• sf-symbols

Components - Layout & Organization (13 topics)

• boxes
• collections
• column-views
• disclosure-controls
• lists-and-tables
• lockups
• outline-views
• scroll-views
• split-views
• tab-views
• tables (see lists-and-tables)
• sidebars
• windows

Components - Menus & Actions (11 topics)

• activity-views
• buttons
• context-menus
• controls
• dock-menus
• edit-menus
• home-screen-quick-actions
• menus
• pop-up-buttons
• pull-down-buttons
• segmented-controls

Components - Navigation & Search (7 topics)

• navigation-and-search
• page-controls
• path-controls
• search-fields
• searching
• tab-bars
• toolbars

Components - Presentation (8 topics)

• action-sheets
• alerts
• panels
• popovers
• sheets
• the-menu-bar
• ornaments
• status-bars

Components - Selection & Input (11 topics)

• color-wells
• combo-boxes
• digit-entry-views
• image-wells
• pickers
• sliders
• steppers
• text-fields
• toggles
• token-fields
• virtual-keyboards

Components - System Experiences (6 topics)

• complications
• live-activities
• notifications
• top-shelf
• watch-faces
• widgets

Patterns (22 topics)

• charting-data
• collaboration-and-sharing
• drag-and-drop
• entering-data
• feedback
• file-management
• going-full-screen
• launching
• live-viewing-apps
• loading
• managing-accounts
• managing-notifications
• modality
• offering-help
• onboarding
• playing-audio
• playing-haptics
• playing-video
• printing
• ratings-and-reviews
• settings
• undo-and-redo
• workouts

Inputs (8 topics)

• action-button
• apple-pencil-and-scribble
• camera-control
• digital-crown
• eyes
• focus-and-selection
• game-controls
• gestures
• gyro-and-accelerometer
• keyboards
• nearby-interactions
• pointing-devices
• remotes
• spatial-interactions

Technologies (30 topics)

• airplay
• always-on
• app-clips
• app-shortcuts
• apple-pay
• augmented-reality
• carekit
• carplay
• game-center
• generative-ai
• healthkit
• homekit
• icloud
• id-verifier
• imessage-apps-and-stickers
• in-app-purchase
• live-photos
• mac-catalyst
• machine-learning
• maps
• nfc
• photo-editing
• researchkit
• shareplay
• shazamkit
• sign-in-with-apple
• siri
• tap-to-pay-on-iphone
• voiceover
• wallet

Platforms (6 topics)

• designing-for-games
• designing-for-ios
• designing-for-ipados
• designing-for-macos
• designing-for-tvos
• designing-for-visionos
• designing-for-watchos

Cross-Cutting Concerns (8 topics)

• accessibility
• dark-mode
• inclusion
• immersive-experiences
• motion
• multitasking
• privacy
• right-to-left
• spatial-layout
• writing

Alphabetical List of All Topics