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I am pretty capable when it comes creating GUIS in Java using Swing, however I can't help feeling that what I am creating is a little too simple. I am getting annoyed when trying to make quick changes.

If I had more free time I would love to spend time becoming more familar with Swing however at the moment that is out of the question.

So my question for the community is, do you have any thoughts on an alternative way for me to make more attractive GUIs?

bmargulies
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London Student
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    @userNNNN "Any thoughts on an alternative .." Hire someone to do the 'simple & annoying' parts for you. BTW - those words are Java & Swing. – Andrew Thompson Apr 15 '11 at 00:16
  • Unhelpful, comments like this are the reason students attempting to learn find it daunting to ask questions. I would suggest you say nothing if you have little constructive to say. If your going to qoute me at least have the decency to keep it in context, I was refering to quick changes that end up taking along time for me to implement. I wasnt looking to be patronised when I wrote this question so I would appreciate you leave you comments elsewhere. Kind regards Simon – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 00:30
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    @user671430: Sorry but I have to agree with Andrew mainly due to your complaining about a library but without giving us **any** specifics. Thus it is quite possible that the problem is with you, not the libraries, that the solution is for you to get stronger in your Swing coding so that you don't find it "simple and annoying". – Hovercraft Full Of Eels Apr 15 '11 at 00:42
  • The point I am making is that with the limited skills (whilst capable) the guis I make look really simple (pretty awful), whats worse is when I attempt to make quick changes I end up getting annoyed as it takes far to long to implement. So I am really just asking for alternatives for creating GUIS in 'Java' that might allow me to develop more attractive GUIS. It really was just a Student asking a community for alternatives. Telling me to get stronger is great, yet kind of irrelevant (If I had more than 29 days for final year project submission, whislt holding down a full time job I would). – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 00:51
  • @user671430: you've changed your original post, and it now is better, and more specific. thank you. – Hovercraft Full Of Eels Apr 15 '11 at 01:35
  • Screenshots, Demos, ...? – user unknown Apr 15 '11 at 01:36
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    @user this is still vastly too vague to get specific answers. You ned to post some specific code examples for this to belong here. – bmargulies Apr 15 '11 at 01:39
  • @bmarguiles What are you talking about? The answer given to the question was exactly what I was looking for. So vastly to vauge for you perhaps. @User Unknown - Duplicate Account? Why would I show screen shots when asking for an alternate way to create GUIS? @Hovercraft I thought you might say that, to be fair the things I added to the question were completely irrelevant and simply gave insight to my circumstances, which are frankly nobodys buisness and should hold no bearing to a simple answer as provided below. – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 02:46
  • But I thank Dhaivat for the useful links, and appreciate all the 'Constructive Critism' put forth by some of the more experienced members, sadly though none of said critism made any attempt to answer the question, which in retrospect was answered long before this rubish began. This is entire thread should be deleted as not to put off any new users to StackOverflow. – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 02:54
  • @user671430: nothing sad about it. The quality of response is directly related to the quality of the question. If this thread prevents newbies with inflated sense of entitlement from posting, then let's leave it be. – Hovercraft Full Of Eels Apr 15 '11 at 12:30
  • "@userNNNN "Any thoughts on an alternative .." Hire someone to do the 'simple & annoying' parts for you. BTW - those words are Java & Swing." How does that help a 'newbie' to correct the way in which they post questions? "mainly due to your complaining about a library but without giving us any specifics." I never complained about the library I complained about my skills, how does that help a 'newbie' to improve the quality of question? "Screenshots, Demos, ...?" How does that help? Its not relevant. – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 13:40
  • I appreciate anybody who takes the time to help me with a question and that includes input to improve it. This is the opposite, read the first comment again and ask yourself how that would that help a 'newbie'. Put yourself back into a 'newbies' shoes and ask yourself how that would of helped you. Then finally be ashamed for using the term 'newbie'. Are you 16? Still playing world of warcraft? If so please ignore that last comment. I take your point that the quality of question dictates the quality of answer. How does the first comment attempt to improve this? (The comment you agreed with) – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 13:55
  • Taken from the Stackoverflow FAQ: "Be nice. Treat others with the same respect you’d want them to treat you. We’re all here to learn together. Be tolerant of others who may not know everything you know. Bring your sense of humor." – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 14:02
  • 1. Who defines attractive? 2. What sort of UI are you building? 3. What parts of it strike you as either unattractive or unpleasant to correct? 4. What on earth do you mean by 'too simple?' What's wrong with simple? – bmargulies Apr 16 '11 at 15:36
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    There is nothing wrong with simple, I never said that there was. You are turning this question into a debate. I simply asked for alternatives to creating Java Application User interfaces. Look I appreicate you trying to answer the question however as I have already said the question was answered within a few minutes of it going up. It is no bad thing that you were unable to do so. But if you are looking for what I consider a model answer you should look at the answer given below. I don't have the time to keep retorting to this nonsence. Thanks for trying Kind regards – London Student Apr 16 '11 at 16:59

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This is a very good thread discussing this. Swing is a very capable framework/library, and you can do many things with it and certainly attractive GUIs.

If you like, you can use a GUI designer, such as the one that comes with Netbeans.

If you don't want to stay with Swing, there is SWT, but, that adds your bloat to your code since it isn't standard, and it won't necessarily make your app look better.

Community
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Dhaivat Pandya
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I am not saying this is a good idea, but you could use Adobe Air/Flash to create your GUI and then use BlazeDS to communicate between Java and Flex/Air/Flash. It does look better but then you are programming in Flash which some people don't like.

Not saying that is a good idea, but it does work.

chantheman
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  • Appreciate your thoughts, although I have to say in the immediate time frame I have I may just stick to the simple guis I have, thanks though! – London Student Apr 15 '11 at 01:32