user interface - I'm tired of JButtons, how can I make a nicer GUI in java?

Question

So far I've only built "small" graphical applications, using swing and JComponents as I learned at school. Yet I can't bear ugly JButtons anymore. I've tried to play with the different JButton methods, like changing colors, putting icons etc. but I'm still not satisfied. How do you make a nicer GUI in java ?

I'm looking for not-too-heavy alternatives (like, without big frameworks or too complicated libraries).

Answer 1

Swing supports changing the Look & feel.

This tutorial explains how:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel(lookAndFeelClassName);

Another way is to start your app with the L&F:

java -Dswing.defaultlaf=com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel MyApp

Here is a list of 10 very nice look and feels.