Comments on: Which Look and Feel should be default in Java 7

By: Miguel Muñoz

Miguel Muñoz — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:29:55 +0000

I say fix the bugs in Numbus, then make it the default LF. Unfortunately, visual bugs filed for Nimbus are given low priority. For example, please get rid of row striping in JTables! (If I want striped rows, I’ll write them myself.) As it is, the stripes make it impossible to write my own renderer without losing the striping some columns. Many other people posting here have mentioned other Nimbus bugs that should also be fixed first. Aside from these bugs, Nimbus looks gorgeous.

There’s a good argument to be made for using the native PLAF, but any existing app that needs native is already set that way, so this change will only affect those that need a cross platform PLAF.

Even if we go with native, I like the idea of making a cross platform PLAF the default in browser apps.

As for the claim that we’ll give ammo to Swing critics when we don’t use the platform PLAF, I say those of us who know how to write a Swing app that runs smoothly and performs well should stick with cross platform UIs. Let people know Swing apps can run fast.

By: Alessandro

Alessandro — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:59:14 +0000

Native.

Nimbus looks great, but is NOT 100% compatible with previous LaFs.
Several long used Swing properties are missing, and almost impossible to fix unless you fix your code to run on both paths : old swing and Nimbus.

As sad before, applications supporting Nimbus must be made from scrach, and with care to make it also works on native LaF.

By: Ivan

Ivan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:59:33 +0000

Java’s KDE-incompatibility should be solved by Sun (by contributing patches).
I’m sure, they have the necessary man hours to do this

By: debabrata pati

debabrata pati — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:12:19 +0000

I think the native look n feel is the best chioce, but needs to more polished.

By: John

John — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:23:32 +0000

Nimbus looks nice, but to retrofit it to an existing app requires a lot of work going well beyond the layout changes. Font handling is one of the nuisance features, if an app specifies fonts for components then under Nimbus they can end up with the font changing as the mouse passes over the component or depending on the selection state. The asymmetric scroll bar visuals are another nuisance, no apparent way to correct them according to their position relative to the component. If Nimbus were to be the default rather than a deliberate selection it would need to play better with existing code.

By: Andriy Tsykholyas

Andriy Tsykholyas — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:55:52 +0000

I believe that Java apps should look like native apps.
But as David Goodenough and Ivan already noticed GTK is not OK for KDE/non-gnome X11 desktops. So, I voted for Nimbus.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:52:25 +0000

Well, I voted for the native look&feel. Though I like that Nimbus offers better configurability (and hopefully by the time of JDK 7 even a visual designer), it’s current state, well, does not really match my visual preferences.

Best,
S.

By: JOKe

JOKe — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:43:29 +0000

native doesnt meen : GTK on Unix,
GTK on Gnome
QT on KDE
maybe Nimbus on other ?

By: skunktrader

skunktrader — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:07:28 +0000

The fact that Nimbus chooses to ignore things like insets on Buttons etc. etc. makes it useless in the real world imho.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:37:03 +0000

Note that Nimbus is more strick than other L&F about creating and using components outside the Event Dispatch Thread. When testing it, I had to change my code to make it work. I think that several applications will break if changed to default.