Java GUI look and feel changes

Question

I\'m new to programming, but I\'m preparing to write a Java program. As I\'m planning it, I\'m trying to find the right GUI for it. I found this page with GUI options. I hav

Answer 1

Ignoring the pro/con of choosing a look and feel (LAF), I'll add some of my experience which using them...

If you're using a third-party/cots componentslibrary (JIDE, SwingLabs/SwingX, etc.) you will have problems as UI classes won't always exist or be up to date with all of the LAFs. JIDE supports a few external LAFs (Alloy and Synthetica). Some LAFs also offer support for widgets; Substance supports some of JIDE and SwingX. The end result is an application that is partially skinned. Not pretty. Make sure your LAF supports all of you components. If you're pure Swing/AWT, no problems.

In light of this, we use Alloy for JIDE support, considering moving to Synthetica. We would love to use Substance, but it doesn't have any JIDE support.