GUI 2 column fixed layout

Question

I want to create a GUI which has 2 columns with fixed dimensions. One the left side a JList and on the right a JPanel.
I have the components created, I just cant get the formatting to work.

Answer 1

In the future Swing related question should be posted in the Swing forum.
I don't understand your problem. The BorderLayout respects the preferredSize of the components when they are added to the West and East of the Layout. Any extra space will be place in the middle of the panel.
If you don't want the user to resize the frame, then you can use frame.setResizable(...);
Also, you don't use setSize(...), when dealing with Swing components. Generally you can use setPreferredSize, but each LayoutManager has its own rules.
I suggest you read the Swing tutorial on [url http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/layout/visual.html]How to Use Layout Managers.
If you need further help then you need to create a [url http://homepage1.nifty.com/algafield/sscce.html]Short, Self Contained, Compilable and Executable, Example Program that demonstrates the incorrect behaviour, because I can't guess exactly what you are doing based on the information provided.
And don't forget to use the [url http://forum.java.sun.com/help.jspa?sec=formatting]Code Formatting Tags so the code retains its original formatting.