I have been mucking about with Java swing lately but it's butt ugly! Are most people who write Java GUI's using swing or something else? I would really appreciate a recommendation. I don't want to use a GUI builder because I need to learn how everything works first.
Thanks!
Most people use Swing.
Some use SWT, but you have to dispose object after use. (no auto dispose in Garbage collecting) It give very native look UI.
Some use Qt-Jambi, but then you have to understand some C++ code. Most of them are for interoperating with Qt.
Some ancient code use AWT. Most of them are for legacy reason. I recommend avoid it.