This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Anis Ali Khan
Build a Magazine-Style News Reader App in Swift
Author: Anis Ali Khan
Duration: ⏳ ~1 hour
Level: Intermediate
📜 Table of Contents
- Introduction 🎬
- Project Setup 🏗️
- Understanding UICollectionView 📖
- Designing the News Layout 🖌️
- Creating the Data Model 🗂️
- Setting Up the Collection View 🏛️
- Implementing Compositional Layout 🏗️
- Adding Custom Cells 🏷️
- Fetching & Displaying News Data 🌐
- Adding Animations & Interactions 🎭
- Testing & Debugging 🛠️
- Final Thoughts 🎉
1️⃣ Introduction 🎬
Welcome to this tutorial! Today, we’re building a Magazine-Style News Reader App using UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout in Swift. 📖✨
What You’ll Learn:
✅ The basics of UICollectionView
✅ How to use UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout for complex grid designs
✅ How to create dynamic, multi-section layouts
✅ How to fetch and display real-world news data
✅ How to add animations & interactions
Let's get started! 🚀
2️⃣ Project Setup 🏗️
Step 1: Create a New Xcode Project
- Open Xcode → Click "Create a new Xcode project"
- Select App → Click Next
- Name it: MagazineReader
- Set Interface to Storyboard (or SwiftUI if preferred)
- Set Language to Swift
- Click Next → Choose a folder → Click Create
Step 2: Add Required Dependencies
We’ll use URLSession for network calls, but if you prefer, you can add Alamofire via Swift Package Manager (SPM).
3️⃣ Understanding UICollectionView 📖
UICollectionView is a powerful class for building grid-based and custom layouts. It consists of:
- Cells – Individual content blocks
- Sections – Groupings of cells
- Layouts – Defines how cells are positioned
UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout vs Traditional Layouts
| Feature | Flow Layout | Compositional Layout |
|---|---|---|
| Simplicity | ✅ Easy | ❌ Complex |
| Flexibility | ❌ Limited | ✅ Highly Flexible |
| Performance | ❌ May lag | ✅ Optimized |
Since we want a magazine-style grid, we’ll use UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout.
4️⃣ Designing the News Layout 🖌️
Our layout will have:
✅ Featured News (Large Cells) – 1 large article at the top
✅ Trending News (Grid Cells) – 2 articles side by side
✅ Latest News (List Cells) – Scrolling list of articles
5️⃣ Creating the Data Model 🗂️
Create NewsItem.swift
import Foundation
struct NewsItem: Identifiable {
let id = UUID()
let title: String
let description: String
let imageURL: String
}
6️⃣ Setting Up the Collection View 🏛️
Step 1: Add UICollectionView to ViewController
- Open Main.storyboard
- Drag a
UICollectionViewinto the ViewController - Set constraints to fill parent view
- Create an IBOutlet in
ViewController.swift:
@IBOutlet weak var collectionView: UICollectionView!
Step 2: Register Cell Classes
collectionView.register(NewsCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "NewsCell")
collectionView.register(FeaturedNewsCell.self, forCellWithReuseIdentifier: "FeaturedNewsCell")
7️⃣ Implementing Compositional Layout 🏗️
Step 1: Define Section Layouts
func createLayout() -> UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout {
return UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout { sectionIndex, _ in
switch sectionIndex {
case 0:
return self.createFeaturedLayout()
case 1:
return self.createTrendingLayout()
default:
return self.createListLayout()
}
}
}
8️⃣ Adding Custom Cells 🏷️
Step 1: Create NewsCell.swift
import UIKit
class NewsCell: UICollectionViewCell {
static let identifier = "NewsCell"
let imageView = UIImageView()
let titleLabel = UILabel()
override init(frame: CGRect) {
super.init(frame: frame)
setupViews()
}
required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
}
func setupViews() {
contentView.addSubview(imageView)
contentView.addSubview(titleLabel)
// Set constraints
}
}
9️⃣ Fetching & Displaying News Data 🌐
func fetchNews() {
let url = URL(string: "https://example.com/api/news")!
URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url) { data, _, error in
if let data = data {
// Decode JSON and update collectionView
}
}.resume()
}
🎉 Final Thoughts
You've successfully built a Magazine-Style News Reader App using UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout! 🚀🔥
📌 Next Steps:
- Fetch real-world news using NewsAPI.org
- Add Dark Mode Support
- Implement Offline Caching
Happy coding! 🎨💻
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Anis Ali Khan
Anis Ali Khan | Sciencx (2025-04-02T18:06:40+00:00) Tutorial 28: Using Collection Views for Complex Layouts 📰📱. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/04/02/tutorial-28-using-collection-views-for-complex-layouts-%f0%9f%93%b0%f0%9f%93%b1/
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