J2ME UI Screen Design

Question

Are there any tools for UI screen design for mobile devices or Is most of the design done in a generic Image/DTP editing/creating software like MS Windows Paint or the likes?

I found a few tools for creating sprite image filmstrips, like MotionWelder, However I haven't found any tools for UI screen design and am generally working in a non-structured manner.

I have tested out NetBeans Visual Builder its nice for component based layout, however I don't think it supports a more open user based component and pixel based view of the screen. I haven't tried NetBeans'Game Builder either maybe I should have a look there?

What would be a more efficient way of Screen design and then say export the resulting screens to your app?

Answer 1

LWUIT is a nice user interface toolkit for J2ME. It allows you to create interfaces in a similar manner to Swing, e.g. using BorderLayouts etc.

When I wrote an application for a mobile device I basically created a background image in paint an imported it into the application. I then used the Canvas class to draw on top of that image to add the additional bits and pieces I needed (such as buttons and text etc.)

Answer 2

From my experience, a Canvas based layout, with the UI designed as screenshots by designers using Photoshop and then they providing image assets has worked well. I personally like the flexibility and control this provides.