Apply Small Caps for unsupported language in SwiftUI

You might want to use small caps to make your UI more interesting, but not all languages and typography support small caps.

In iOS 17, SwiftUI got a new modifier to make text appear smaller, textScale. More importantly, it works across all locales.

What are small caps

Small caps are small, uppercase letterforms with the same height as regular lowercase letters.

This results in the small-caps type appearing to be a more natural part of the text.

They are used to add visual variety while maintaining a harmonious appearance.

In the following example, we use small caps to make the pixel unit (PX) looks more interesting.

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Not all languages support small caps

The concept of small caps isn't part of all typography. For example, Thai letters don't have this concept.

When you try to apply the smallCaps() modifier to Thai letters, it won't have any effect.

HStack {
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX")
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps())
    Text("10 ") + Text("พิกเซล")
    Text("10 ") + Text("พิกเซล").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps())
}
.font(.largeTitle)

In iOS 17, we have a new modifier that works great in multiple locales, textScale.

How to use SwiftUI textScale

To make a text appear smaller, we apply the .textScale(.secondary) modifier to the text view.

We use the same sample, but this time, we use Text("พิกเซล").textScale(.secondary) instead of Text("พิกเซล").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps()).

HStack {
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX")
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps())
    Text("10 ") + Text("พิกเซล")
    //  Text("10 ") + Text("พิกเซล").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps())
    Text("10 ") + Text("พิกเซล").textScale(.secondary)
}
.font(.largeTitle)

Here is the result. As you can see, the Thai letters "พิกเซล" getting smaller this time.

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smallCaps vs. textScale

One thing to note here is textScale doesn't yield the same height as smallCaps().

Here is a comparison between the two.

HStack {
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX")
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps())
    Text("10 ") + Text("PX").textScale(.secondary)
    Text("10 ") + Text("พิกเซล").textScale(.secondary)
}
.font(.largeTitle)

As you can see, the textScale is a little bit smaller than the smallCaps.

Caveat

Another point to note here is textScale doesn't automatically turn text into capital letters like smallCaps did.

You have to make sure it is in the correct form by yourself.

HStack {
    Text("10 ") + Text("BA")
    Text("10 ") + Text("ba").font(.largeTitle.smallCaps())
    Text("10 ") + Text("ba").textScale(.secondary)
    Text("10 ") + Text("BA").textScale(.secondary)
}
.font(.largeTitle)

As you can see, .textScale(.secondary) doesn't turn "ba" to "BA".