SwiftyAttributes
A Swifty API for attributed strings in iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS with a clean, chainable syntax.
What is SwiftyAttributes?
SwiftyAttributes is a Swift library that provides a modern, type-safe API for creating and manipulating attributed strings on Apple platforms. It solves the problem of verbose and error-prone Foundation APIs by offering a chainable syntax and comprehensive enum-based attribute system. Developers can style text with attributes like colors, fonts, and underlines using clean, Swifty code.
iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS developers who need to work with styled text in their apps, particularly those building rich text editors, custom UI components, or localized interfaces with mixed formatting.
Developers choose SwiftyAttributes because it replaces Objective-C's cumbersome `NSAttributedString` APIs with a native Swift experience—offering type safety, chainable methods, and Swift Range support. It eliminates stringly-typed keys while maintaining full compatibility with all Cocoa attributes.
Overview
A Swifty API for attributed strings
Use Cases
Best For
- Building rich text editors with complex formatting requirements
- Creating custom UILabel or NSTextField subclasses with styled text
- Localizing apps where different text segments need distinct styles
- Implementing syntax highlighting in code editors or text views
- Developing UI components with mixed font sizes, colors, or underlines
- Migrating Objective-C attributed string code to modern Swift
Not Ideal For
- Projects exclusively using SwiftUI for all text styling, as it relies on UIKit/AppKit's NSAttributedString
- Cross-platform applications targeting non-Apple ecosystems like Android or web
- Teams that prefer minimal dependencies and have simple attributed string needs already met by Foundation
Pros & Cons
Pros
Enables readable, fluid code like 'Hello World!'.withTextColor(.blue).withUnderlineStyle(.styleSingle), reducing verbosity compared to Foundation APIs.
Uses an enum for all attributes, such as .underlineStyle(.styleSingle), eliminating stringly-typed keys and reducing runtime errors.
Works with Swift's Range<Int> instead of NSRange, making it better integrated with Swift collections and avoiding manual conversions.
Supports every attribute available in Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, ensuring full compatibility for any attributed string use case.
Cons
Limited to Apple platforms (iOS, macOS, etc.), so it's unsuitable for cross-platform projects or those using non-Apple technologies.
Adds an external library for functionality that Foundation provides natively, which can be unnecessary for simple apps and increase maintenance.
Designed for UIKit/AppKit, so using it with SwiftUI requires additional bridging or workarounds, complicating the codebase.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
YYTextPowerful text framework for iOS to display and edit rich text.
PhoneNumberKitA Swift framework for parsing, formatting and validating international phone numbers. Inspired by Google's libphonenumber.
ZSSRichTextEditorA beautiful rich text WYSIWYG editor for iOS with a syntax highlighted source view
BonMotBeautiful, easy attributed strings in Swift
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