Linked by Andy Roberts on Thu 19th May 2005 19:33 UTC
Java Swing comes with "pluggable look-and-feel technology", which essentially boils down to the fact that interfaces can be "skinned" (although this is simplifying a tad) and is therefore, extremely flexible. By default, Java ships with a cross-platform look-and-feel (LAF), which means your apps can look consistent across all platforms, or LAFs that mimic the look of a specific platform, say Windows, for example. However, one of the chief complaints of Java desktop applications is its "look". It basically stems from two issues:
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i'm myself a full-time developer and i have a few words to say about crossplatform and native development.
the biggest problem is always consistency. as soon as you start writing an application that will work on more than one platform, you say goodbye to consistency.
its not someone's fault, its just a reality. all platforms behave differently. its really hard to keep a little bit of consistency when youre targeting more than one platform.
i know that alot of developers are concerned about this problem, mainly because 90% of all developers are scared to miss the java/.net/ect train.
i was myself in that situation a while back but i wasnt so happy about this. i found myself writing apps using languages/toolkits that i didnt even like a little bit.
finally, i jumped out of the train and i went back to my good old habits and im so happy today. i am a windows developer and i love programming directly with win32 apis. alot of people tell me that i waste some precious time doing everything by myself but i personally think that they are all wrong.
see, you can write code/debug like 20% faster in java/.net/ect but it takes you alot of time to get used to the platform. and when you start being efficient, something new appears on the market.
even worst, you have to deal with the consistency issue. at the end, you are doing something that youre not even enjoying youself.
im not saying that crossplatform development is bad and i even do some myself. but its not really interesting in my cases (for both the developers and the users).
when you adopt a platform, writing native applications is always the best way to go. you can do everything you want that way, theres no limitation.
finally, theres one more thing i got to say. not all java/.net/ect apps are bad. i think this is a misconception due to the fact that alot of non-experienced programmers use those platforms because they "seem" like way more easy to learn than others.