Getting a roblox studio rich text script set up is honestly one of the fastest ways to make your game's UI look like it wasn't just slapped together in five minutes. We've all seen those bland, one-color text boxes that look like they belong in a 2005 spreadsheet, but adding a bit of flavor with markup tags changes the whole vibe. Whether you're trying to highlight a player's name in a chat bubble or make a critical hit stand out in a combat log, rich text is your best friend.
The cool thing about rich text is that it lets you style individual words—or even individual letters—within a single TextLabel or TextButton. Before this was a thing, you'd have to create multiple labels, line them up perfectly, and pray they didn't break when the screen resolution changed. It was a nightmare. Now, it's all handled through simple, HTML-like tags.
Flipping the Switch: The RichText Property
Before you even touch a script, there's one tiny detail you can't forget. If you don't check the "RichText" box in the Properties window of your UI element, your script is just going to output the literal tags. There's nothing more embarrassing than your players seeing Hello Player instead of a nice red name.
So, first step: select your TextLabel, scroll down in the Properties panel, and make sure RichText is toggled on. If you're doing this entirely through code (like when you're instantiating UI on the fly), just set myLabel.RichText = true. Once that's done, the engine is ready to parse whatever tags you throw at it.
The Basic Syntax You'll Actually Use
If you've ever dabbled in basic HTML, you're already halfway there. A roblox studio rich text script uses tags wrapped in angle brackets. Most of these tags need a closing tag to tell the engine where to stop the styling.
Here's a quick rundown of the heavy hitters:
- Bold:
This is bold - Italics:
This is slanted - Underline:
Use this sparingly - Strikethrough:
For when you change your mind
While those are great, the real power comes from the and "You found 50 Gold!"
Writing a Dynamic Roblox Studio Rich Text Script
In a real game, you're rarely just typing static text into the properties box. You're usually pulling data from a player's stats or a global event. This is where string concatenation comes into play.
Let's say you want to create a kill feed. You want the killer's name to be red and the victim's name to be blue. Your script might look something like this:
```lua local killerName = "NoobSlayer99" local victimName = "Builderman" local feedbackLabel = script.Parent -- Assuming this is a TextLabel
feedbackLabel.RichText = true feedbackLabel.Text = "" .. killerName .. " eliminated " .. victimName .. "!" ```
It looks a bit messy with all the dots and quotes, but once it renders, it looks professional. If you want to keep your code cleaner, I highly recommend using string.format(). It makes it way easier to read:
lua local template = "%s leveled up to Level %d!" feedbackLabel.Text = string.format(template, player.Name, player.Level.Value)
Taking it Further with Strokes and Gradients
One of the newer additions to the roblox studio rich text script arsenal is the
The syntax for stroke is a bit beefier:
You can adjust the thickness to make it subtle or go full "comic book" style with a heavy border. Just keep in mind that the more tags you stack, the longer your strings get. Roblox has a limit on how many characters a string can hold, though you're unlikely to hit it unless you're writing a literal novel in a single label.
Why Use Rich Text Instead of Multiple Labels?
You might be thinking, "I can just use different labels for different colors." And sure, you could. But think about UI responsiveness. When a player changes their screen size or plays on a mobile phone, UI elements shift. If you have three different labels making up one sentence, keeping them aligned is a massive headache.
By using a roblox studio rich text script, the text remains a single block. It wraps naturally. It scales properly with TextScaled (mostly—though be careful, as rich text and TextScaled can sometimes act a bit funky together). It's just much more "future-proof" for your game's design.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Even seasoned developers mess up rich text sometimes. The most common issue is forgetting to close a tag. If you open a but never add a , the rest of your text—and sometimes even subsequent UI elements depending on how you're nesting—might just break or look weird.
Another thing to watch out for is the use of special characters. If you actually want to display a < symbol in your text while RichText is enabled, the engine might get confused and think you're starting a tag. To fix this, you have to use escape codes like < for the "less than" symbol and > for "greater than." It's a bit of a chore, but it prevents the parser from tripping over itself.
Lastly, don't overdo it. Just because you can make every letter a different color, size, and font doesn't mean you should. UI is meant to be readable. If your player has to squint to understand their quest objective because it's glowing, vibrating, and rainbow-colored, they're probably just going to close the game.
Practical Example: A Dynamic Dialogue System
Imagine you're building an RPG. You want the NPC to emphasize certain words. Using a script to "type out" the text one letter at a time (a typewriter effect) while maintaining rich text tags is a bit tricky but very rewarding.
When you're doing a typewriter effect with a roblox studio rich text script, you can't just sub-string the text. If you cut the string in the middle of a tag like , the UI will display the raw code until the full tag is finished. To get around this, you usually need a more advanced script that identifies tags and skips over them during the "typing" delay, or you just accept that the tags will pop in all at once.
Wrapping Up
Mastering the roblox studio rich text script isn't just about making things look pretty—it's about communication. It lets you direct the player's eye to what really matters. Use it to highlight key items, differentiate speakers in a chat, or add some "juice" to your combat numbers.
Once you get used to the syntax, you'll find yourself using it everywhere. It's one of those small skills that separates the hobbyist projects from the games that actually feel "polished." So go ahead, open up your latest project, toggle that RichText property, and start experimenting with some colors and strokes. Your players (and your UI's layout) will thank you for it.