Chapter 1, UI Fundamentals, starts by describing how interfaces are structured and drawn and then presents some really important elements, such as windows and views.

Chapter 2, UI Components Overview – UIKit, is an overview of the UIKit framework. It's a guided tour through the main UIKit elements, from their usage inside an app to their customization.

Chapter 3, Interface Builder, XIB, and Storyboard, gives an overview of the Xcode tools used to set up and build UIs.

Chapter 4, Auto Layout, is the key to understanding how Auto Layout works. It describes in detail how to create dynamic layouts.

Chapter 5, Adaptive User Interfaces, discusses a very important topic: how to improve user experience and provide interfaces that can adapt to different orientations, screen sizes, and user preferences using the latest advancements introduced with iOS 8 and 9.

Chapter 6, Layers and Core Animation, focuses on CALayer in the context of core animation. It illustrates how to achieve animations in iOS using two different approaches.

Chapter 7, UI Interactions – Touches and Gestures, analyzes the main way users interact with UIs—through touch. It answers questions such as "how is this information passed from the screen to the views?" and "how can we build an engaging UI using gestures?"

Chapter 8, How to Build Custom Controls, explains how to build custom controls after learning how these controls work in the previous chapters.

Chapter 9, Introduction to Core Graphics, is a final quick overview of the core graphics (Quartz 2D) framework to show you how to perform custom drawings with iOS.

In order to be able to run the code examples, you need a Mac computer with OS X and Xcode installed. The suggested minimal version is OS X 10.11.1 and Xcode 7.1.

This easy-to-follow guide is perfect for beginner-level iOS developers who want to become proficient in user interface development. It is also useful for experienced iOS developers who need a complete overview of this broad topic all in one place without having to consult various sources.

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "The properties that define the view geometry are frame, bounds, and center and they are configured using the geometry structures you just saw."

A block of code is set as follows:

        // Define a point
        let point = CGPoint(x: 20, y: 10)

        // Define a size
        let size = CGSize(width: 20, height: 10)

        // Define a rect using size and point
        let rect_A = CGRect(origin: point, size: size)

        // Define a rect using x, y, width and height data
        let rect_B = CGRect(x: 15, y: 10, width: 100, height: 30)

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

enum UIUserInterfaceSizeClass : Int {
    case Unspecified
    case Compact
    case Regular
}

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Create a new asset by clicking on the + symbol and selecting New Image Asset."

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