Change font of UINavigationController title

Question

Can I change the font of my UINavigationController? --> title

score 74 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 09 '18 at 07:34

As of iOS 5 you can change the font via the appearance proxy.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiappearance

The following will set the title font for all UINavigationControllers.

  NSMutableDictionary *titleBarAttributes = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithDictionary: [[UINavigationBar appearance] titleTextAttributes]];
  [titleBarAttributes setValue:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Didot" size:16] forKey:NSFontAttributeName];
  [[UINavigationBar appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:titleBarAttributes];

To set the font for the back button, do this:

  NSMutableDictionary *attributes = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithDictionary: [[UIBarButtonItem appearance] titleTextAttributesForState:UIControlStateNormal]];
  [attributes setValue:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Didot" size:12] forKey:NSFontAttributeName];
  [[UIBarButtonItem appearance] setTitleTextAttributes:attributes forState:UIControlStateNormal];

To set the font for the large titles available in iOS 11+, do this:

if (@available(iOS 11.0, *)) {
    NSMutableDictionary *largeTitleTextAttributes = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithDictionary: [[UINavigationBar appearance] largeTitleTextAttributes]];
    [largeTitleTextAttributes setValue:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Didot" size:32] forKey:NSFontAttributeName];
    [[UINavigationBar appearance] setLargeTitleTextAttributes:largeTitleTextAttributes];
}

iOS 7 deprecated the key: UITextAttributeFont (read, don't use this) and now uses the key: NSFontAttributeName instead. Works wonders and makes my app look a heck of a lot better. Thanks! — Rob R., Oct 03 '13 at 16:30
In each individual view controller you can also set the title text attributes on the instance of current navigation bar to customize the appearance there, like this code snippet: [self.navigationController.navigationBar setTitleTextAttributes:@{NSFontAttributeName:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Palatino-Bold" size:28], NSForegroundColorAttributeName:[UIColor whiteColor]}]; — CodeBrew, Mar 21 '15 at 16:53

score 26 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 30 '19 at 07:23

26

for iOS8+ you can use:

[self.navigationController.navigationBar setTitleTextAttributes:@{ NSFontAttributeName: [UIFont fontWithName:@"MyFont" size:18.0f],
                                                                   NSForegroundColorAttributeName: [UIColor whiteColor]
                                                                   }];

Swift:

self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "MyFont", size: 18.0)!]

edited Apr 30 '19 at 07:23

answered Aug 05 '15 at 11:44

Mobile Developer

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Thanks this gave me the right direction to implement a custom font with swift: self.navigationController?.navigationBar.titleTextAttributes = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "MyFont", size: 18.0)!] – NBoymanns Mar 15 '16 at 08:10
Thanks, mate! Solved it. – Felipe Apr 14 '16 at 17:58
2

Always sad when trying out first all above answers just to find out the bottom one is the most modern one \: – hashier Nov 30 '16 at 12:29

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 30 '10 at 17:55

15

The title view can be any view. So just create a UILabel or something else where you change the font and assign that new view to the title property of the navigation item.

answered Oct 30 '10 at 17:55

Erik

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That's a great idea, but I have a problem now,.. When I add my UILabel my controls (like AddButton) on the uinavigationcontroller isn't visible anymore,.. *hm* – Christian 'fuzi' Orgler Oct 30 '10 at 18:11
I fixed it, by myself.. sorry a missunderstood ;) – Christian 'fuzi' Orgler Oct 30 '10 at 18:18
1

if this fixed the problem, dont forget to accept the solution provided in the answer – Erik Oct 31 '10 at 17:15

score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 20 '12 at 14:53

10

An example:

-(void) viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {

    [super viewWillAppear:animated];

    CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 400, 44);
    UILabel *label = [[[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:frame] autorelease];
    label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    label.font = [FontHelper fontFor:FontTargetForNavigationHeadings];
    label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
    label.textColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
    label.text = self.navigationItem.title;
    // emboss in the same way as the native title
    [label setShadowColor:[UIColor darkGrayColor]];
    [label setShadowOffset:CGSizeMake(0, -0.5)];
    self.navigationItem.titleView = label;
}

edited Jul 20 '12 at 14:53

Ry-

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answered Dec 26 '11 at 04:41

Jonathan Moffatt

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+1 for this. If viewControllers in stack require different font for title, then `[UINavigationBar appearance]` can't do the job. A custom titleView is the only method. – BabyPanda Oct 19 '12 at 04:15
5

its better to put this code in viewDidLoad, else every time the view comes up in hierarchy, titleView will be created and its unnecessary work on the system – raw3d Oct 06 '13 at 13:30

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 05 '17 at 17:13

The answer from @morgancodes will set the font for all UINavigationController titles. I've updated it for Swift 4:

let attributes = [NSAttributedStringKey.font: UIFont(name: "Menlo", size: 14) as Any]
UINavigationBar.appearance().titleTextAttributes = attributes
UIBarButtonItem.appearance().setTitleTextAttributes(attributes, for: .normal)

Change font of UINavigationController title

5 Answers5