BY Steven Fisher
You need to use a UILabel as the titleView of the navigationItem.
The label should:
Have a clear background color (label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor]).
Use bold 20pt system font (label.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize: 20.0f]).
Have a shadow of black with 50% alpha (label.shadowColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.0 alpha:0.5]).
You'll want to set the text alignment to centered as well (label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter).
Set the label text color to be whatever custom color you'd like. You do want a color that doesn't cause the text to blend into shadow, which would be difficult to read.
I worked this out through trial and error, but the values I came up with are ultimately too simple for them not to be what Apple picked. :)
If you want to verify this, drop this code into initWithNibName:bundle: in PageThreeViewController.m of Apple's NavBar sample. This will replace the text with a yellow label. This should be indistinguishable from the original produced by Apple's code, except for the color.
- (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self)
{
// this will appear as the title in the navigation bar
CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, 400, 44);
UILabel *label = [[[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:frame] autorelease];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.font = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:20.0];
label.shadowColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.0 alpha:0.5];
label.textAlignment = UITextAlignmentCenter;
label.textColor = [UIColor yellowColor];
self.navigationItem.titleView = label;
label.text = NSLocalizedString(@"PageThreeTitle", @"");
}
return self;
}
(As an aside, I've actually searched for an answer to this problem myself in the months since I first posted it. Imagine my surprise when it was my answer! That's part of why I've come back to clean it up a little...)