java- gui design aesthetics

Question

Hi,

I am new to GUI design, and would like to know if there is somekind of standard "project" that I can find a set of "standard"- or not- images for my various components, e.g. buttons, jtree etc so that my GUI looks nicer. If there are icons by theme, would be great.I am using NetBeans but it seems that there is no library of icons included in it.

Thanks

Answer 1

Check out http://www.javootoo.com/ for links to a bunch of different look and feel projects, some commercial.

Answer 2

Don't overlook the Look & Feel icons, mentioned here, and there's no shortage of generously licensed icon themes.

Answer 3

This code will set the GUI to look mostly like the native GUI:

try {
    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch(Exception e) {
    System.out.println("Error setting native LAF: " + e);
}

It's not perfect since it's basically Sun trying to copy the Windows style (pre-Aero), but I like it a lot better than the default Swing style. I've never tried it on a Mac so I can't comment on the accuracy there.