:: References ::

Find here a list of references useful for Java layout.

Layout Managers

ExplicitLayout complements the FormLayout when it comes to non-rectangular layouts and other complex non-form-oriented designs. It is a powerful general purpose layout manager that provides many features to specify the location and size of a component.

ExplicitLayout offers other useful features: styles, external UI specification and layout reuse. ExplicitLayout is licensed under the GNU LGPL and ships with a user guide and well choosen examples.

SwtForms is an SWT port of the FormLayout and some Forms builder done by Florian Fankhauser.

Layout Tools

Foam is a commercial visual builder tool that aims to simplify building Java GUIs. Although it doesn't follow the grid-based approach that I found useful, it may help developers get good design quickly. The tool demos are worth a look.

See also the list of visual builders that support the FormLayout.

Articles

Microsoft's Design Specifications and Guidelines - Visual Design describe how to layout on the Microsoft platform. Since the dimensions are specified in a non-pixel size dlu it is quite useful for multiplatform screen design.

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines provide a lot of tips & tricks for good design.

I provide articles and presentations about Swing, apperance, and layout.

Books

A recommended reading is Designing Visual Interfaces by Kevin Mullet & Darrel Sano. If you read 100 pages of this book, you will learn the most valuable basics of user interface design, and more generally, design. It is useful for the daily work of every GUI developer.

If you either need an introduction or reference about do's and don'ts in GUI design, read Jeff Johnson's GUI Bloopers. If you are busy and can't find the time to read 500 pages, just look at the book's contents and check whether you have an idea what all the topics are about. In this case, I guess, a medium skilled GUI designer will read about 50 pages.

There are several tutorials and books that can help you get started with the Swing widget toolkit, widgets, and basic configuration. The Swing book by Robinson and Vorobiev is one of the better books.