Best layout for my interface?

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to make a login interface for an authenticator I'm working on and I've tried a few layouts but I can't find one that works and looks similar on both Ubuntu Linux and Windows 7.
Here's what I'm currently using:
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JCheckBox;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JPasswordField;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class Gui {
     private static JFrame frame = new JFrame();
     private JPanel loginPanel = new JPanel();
     private JTextField usernameField = new JTextField(10);
     private JPasswordField passwordField = new JPasswordField(10);
     private JCheckBox rememberMeCheckBox = new JCheckBox();
     private JButton loginButton = new JButton("Login");
     private JButton cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
               public void run() {
                    frame.setSize(190, 160);
                    frame.setTitle("Login");
                    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                    frame.getContentPane().add(new Gui().initialize());
                    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                    frame.setVisible(true);
     public JComponent initialize() {
          usernameField = new JTextField(10);
          passwordField = new JPasswordField(10);
          rememberMeCheckBox = new JCheckBox();
          loginButton = new JButton("Login");
          cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
          loginPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          loginPanel.add(new JLabel("Username: "));
          loginPanel.add(usernameField);
          loginPanel.add(new JLabel("Password:  "));
          loginPanel.add(passwordField);
          loginPanel.add(rememberMeCheckBox);
          loginPanel.add(new JLabel("Remember my information"));
          loginPanel.add(loginButton);
          loginPanel.add(cancelButton);
          return loginPanel;
Here's what I want it to look like (I know a lot of people won't look, but I'm hoping some will. All links are the same, just in case):
http://i55.tinypic.com/4gsn5j.png
http://yfrog.com/jygui0p
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8819/gui0.png

Answer 1

aeternaly wrote:
Hi,
I'm trying to make a login interface for an authenticator I'm working on and I've tried a few layouts "the trick is" - to paraphrase Rob - to learn LayoutManagers. Core has several, they all have their specific behaviour which is (mostly) well defined in their api doc. Plus there are several more - free! - open source managers out which are more powerful and at the same time easier to use than any of core.
Simply randomly "try out" stuff will not get you far on your way to mastering Swing ;-)
Cheers
Jeanette
BTW: SwingX has a fully functional LoginPane plus authentication support ...