---
name: hig-components-content
description: Apple Human Interface Guidelines for content display components.
risk: safe
source: community
date_added: '2026-02-27'
---

# Apple HIG: Content Components

Check for `.claude/apple-design-context.md` before asking questions. Use existing context and only ask for information not already covered.

## Key Principles

1. **Adapt to different sizes and contexts.** Content components must work across screen sizes, orientations, and multitasking configurations. Use the layout system appropriate to the framework (SwiftUI layout or Auto Layout), and use size classes where available.

2. **Make content accessible.** Provide chart summaries and appropriate accessible data navigation; Swift Charts includes a default Audio Graphs implementation. Give meaningful images descriptive accessibility labels and hide decorative or redundant images. Collections need a logical VoiceOver navigation order.

3. **Maintain visual hierarchy.** Use spacing, sizing, and grouping to establish clear information hierarchy. Primary content should be visually prominent.

4. **Use system components first.** Evaluate UICollectionView, SwiftUI Charts, WKWebView before building custom. System components provide accessibility and adaptation defaults; still test labels, interactions and supported platform versions.

5. **Respect platform conventions.** A collection on tvOS uses large lockups with parallax. The same collection on iOS uses compact cells with touch targets. On visionOS, content gains depth and hover effects.

6. **Handle empty states.** Show a meaningful empty state with guidance on how to populate it, not a blank screen.

7. **Optimize for performance.** Use lazy loading, cell reuse, pagination, and prefetching for large datasets.

## Reference Index

| Reference | Topic | Key content |
|---|---|---|
| [charts.md](references/charts.md) | Charts | Swift Charts, bar/line/area/point marks, chart accessibility, audio graphs |
| [collections.md](references/collections.md) | Collections | Grid/list layouts, compositional layout, selection, reordering, diffable data sources |
| [image-views.md](references/image-views.md) | Image Views | Aspect ratio handling, content modes, SF Symbol images, accessibility |
| [image-wells.md](references/image-wells.md) | Image Wells | Drag-and-drop image selection, macOS-specific, placeholder content |
| [color-wells.md](references/color-wells.md) | Color Wells | Color selection UI, system color picker, custom color spaces |
| [web-views.md](references/web-views.md) | Web Views | WKWebView, SFSafariViewController, navigation controls, content restrictions |
| [activity-views.md](references/activity-views.md) | Activity Views | Share sheets, activity items, custom activities, action extensions |
| [lockups.md](references/lockups.md) | Lockups | Image+text elements, tvOS card layouts, focus effects, shelf layouts |

## Component Selection Guide

| Content Need | Recommended Component | Platform Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Visualizing quantitative data | Charts (Swift Charts) | iOS 16+, macOS 13+, watchOS 9+ |
| Browsing a grid or list of items | Collection View | Compositional layout for complex arrangements |
| Displaying a single image | Image View | Support aspect ratio fitting; provide accessibility description |
| Selecting an image via drag or browse | Image Well | macOS primarily; use image pickers on iOS |
| Selecting a color | Color Well | Triggers system color picker; macOS, iOS 14+ |
| Showing web content inline | Web View (WKWebView) | On supported UIKit platforms consider SFSafariViewController; on macOS use the default browser for external links |
| Sharing content to other apps | Activity View | System share sheet with configurable activity types |
| Content card (image + text) | Lockup | TVUIKit lockups are tvOS-specific; adapt the content-card pattern with native components elsewhere |

## Output Format

1. **Component recommendation with rationale**, referencing the relevant HIG reference file.
2. **Configuration guidance** -- key properties and setup.
3. **Accessibility requirements** for the recommended component.
4. **Platform-specific notes** for targeted platforms.

## Questions to Ask

1. What type of content? (Quantitative data, images, web content, browsable collection, share action?)
2. Which platforms?
3. Static or dynamic content?
4. How much content? (Few items vs hundreds/thousands affects component choice and optimization.)

## Related Skills

- **hig-foundations** -- Color, typography, accessibility, and image guidelines
- **hig-patterns** -- Data visualization, sharing, and loading patterns
- **hig-components-layout** -- Structural containers (scroll views, lists, split views) hosting content
- **hig-platforms** -- Platform-specific component behavior (lockups on tvOS, web views on macOS)

---

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## When to Use
This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.

## Example

**User request:**

> Use @hig-components-content for this task: Apple Human Interface Guidelines for content display components.

## Limitations

- Bundled HIG pages are reference snapshots, not a live compatibility matrix. Verify API availability against the target SDK and deployment version. macOS uses native sharing APIs rather than UIActivityViewController; do not infer API portability from a shared visual pattern.
- Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
- Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
- Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.