Hour 14. Laying Out a User Interface

What You’ll Learn in This Hour:

• Creating a layout manager

• Assigning a layout manager to a container

• Using panels to organize components in an interface

• Working with unusual layouts

• Creating a prototype for a Java application

When you begin designing graphical user interfaces (GUI) for your Java programs, one obstacle you face is that your components can move around. Whenever a container changes size—such as when a user resizes a frame—the components it holds may rearrange themselves to fit its new dimensions.

This fluidity works in your favor because it takes into account the differences in how interface components are displayed on different operating systems. A clickable button might look different in Windows than it does in Linux or Mac OS.

Components are organized in an interface by using a set of classes called layout managers. These classes define how components are displayed within a container. Each container in an interface can have its own layout manager.