Which layout manager to learn to use

[john merritt]

I am teaching myself java from books and the internet. I found Mig Layout while searching for info on layout managers. Is this the only layout manager I need to learn to use or does it have limitation I am unaware of? Should I learn to use all the available layout managers or will Mig layout cover all eventualities I will ever need?
John Merritt

[Kevin Workman]

john merritt wrote:I am teaching myself java from books and the internet. I found Mig Layout while searching for info on layout managers. Is this the only layout manager I need to learn to use or does it have limitation I am unaware of? Should I learn to use all the available layout managers or will Mig layout cover all eventualities I will ever need?
John Merritt

Best to learn them all- especially the standard ones. I would learn those before delving into Mig Layout. Most non-trivial GUIs will use a combination of nested layouts, and it's important to learn how they all fit together.

Check out A Visual Guide to Layout Managers, which I found as the first result for "java layouts".

[Lester Burnham]

I'd avoid GridBagLayout. See the SwingFaq for alternatives that are a bit less powerful, but much easier to use: GridLayout2 and SGLayout.

Nested JPanels having BoxLayouts is something I find myself using a lot.

[Matthew Brown]

BorderLayout is the one I find myself using the most. It's amazing what you can do with a combination of BorderLayouts and GridLayouts.

[john merritt]

Thank for the links
John