Question

I am planning to develop a desktop application that allows to manage client data. I am an experienced Java programmer but I have never really been able to do attractive interfaces in Java, for instance, I personally think the default Swing components are horrible (when I compare it for example with a recent web interface).

So first question would be, how can I make sexy interfaces in Java (that still run on all platforms) ?
Secondly, wouldn’t it be a good idea to make the interface in HTML5? Isn’t it possible to run an HTML5 interface without a web server, as I don’t need the application to be accessible online, thus I don’t need a server.

Answer 1

• Metal Look and feel is not friendly (at all), and let’s not even
  consider Motif.

• Nimbus does a much better job, but still does not look right nor feel
  natural

• However, on each platform, you can use the “System” look and feel:
  looks ok, feels natural–>Good user experience.

• If you want to create you own look and feel, take a look at Synth. It
  is a little bit like you could apply CSS to your Swing components.

To use the System look and feel, nothing easier than calling this (before starting any UI related things):

try {
    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} catch (InstantiationException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}