Handsome UIs

What makes a UI attractive to the user? Members of the Reddit community have thrown up their hands in support of beautiful Java UIs to gain inspiration outside of the IDE space. Here we show a couple of examples of how good-looking a UI can be.

Codename One founder Shai Almog shared some opinions recently regarding JavaFX and why it has failed to take off*. A bold statement, but JavaFX and Swing are still enjoying healthy usage numbers throughout the community. Over on Reddit, commenters showed that you can build really nice UIs with both technologies, too.

Our first example comes courtesy of the music industry where a beautiful example of a Java UI can be found in DJ software UltraMixer. In a promotional video for the company, you can catch a glimpse of the modern and clean user interface. DJs not only need cool sound, but also cool software.

An honourable mentioned goes out to the equally chic-looking Bitwig Studio, and while it doesn’t have a purely Java UI, its most of the way there.

Exploring beauty in the game world

One of the best known examples of creative design and UI is none other than Minecraft. Although not everyone is into the whole pixel blocks thing, its success speaks for itself. With Swing and a bit of the JavaFX UI we’re also presented with Software Poker Copilot, designed to help poker players in improving their game.

Business applications need not be boring

Business applications aren’t always seen as dull. A good example is this monitoring application for container terminals from Java Magazine author Dierk König.

For Java in Java

You will obviously find examples in the Java world itself of good-looking UI design. The popular Java IDE IntelliJ IDEA has often been fawned over for its handsome interface. Another contender in the beauty stakes is Scene Builder, which cuts a decent figure of simplicity and grace.

There’s also some JavaFX demos that show that good design is possible, such as JavaFX Ensemble.

Do you have any other examples of beautifully designed Java UIs? Share them in the comments below.

* Edited after publication