# HIG: Components & Patterns

Source: [Apple HIG — Components](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/components) | [Modality](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/modality) | [Searching](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/searching)

## Component Categories

### Content
Charts, Image views, Text views, Web views

### Layout and Organization
Boxes, Collections, Column views, Disclosure controls, Labels, Lists and tables, Lockups, Outline views, Split views, Tab views

### Menus and Actions
Activity views, Buttons, Context menus, Dock menus, Edit menus, Home Screen quick actions, Menus, Ornaments, Pop-up buttons, Pull-down buttons, The menu bar, Toolbars

### Navigation and Search
Path controls, Search fields, Sidebars, Tab bars, Token fields

### Presentation
Action sheets, Alerts, Page controls, Panels, Popovers, Scroll views, Sheets, Windows

### Selection and Input
Color wells, Combo boxes, Digit entry views, Image wells, Pickers, Segmented controls, Sliders, Steppers, Text fields, Toggles, Virtual keyboards

### Status
Activity rings, Gauges, Progress indicators, Rating indicators

### System Experiences
App Shortcuts, Complications, Controls, Live Activities, Notifications, Status bars, Top Shelf, Watch faces, Widgets

## Modality

### When to Use
- Deliver critical information requiring acknowledgment
- Confirm/modify a recent action
- Help people perform a distinct, narrowly scoped task
- Provide immersive experience or aid concentration

### Best Practices
- Present modally only when there's a **clear benefit**
- Keep modal tasks **simple, short, and streamlined**
- Avoid hierarchy within modals — single path only
- Full-screen modal for in-depth content or complex tasks
- Always provide an **obvious dismiss mechanism**
- Confirm before closing if dismissal could lose user content
- Never stack modals — dismiss one before showing another
- Only one alert visible at a time

## Searching

### Best Practices
- If search is important, make it a **primary action** (tab bar, toolbar)
- Single search location — one clearly identified place
- Placeholder text to indicate searchable content
- Display current scope clearly
- Provide suggestions before and during typing
- Consider privacy — provide option to clear search history

## Navigation Conventions
- Standard Back and Close buttons with system symbols
- Don't use text labels for Back/Close — use symbols
- Consistent implementation throughout the app