skiko VS FlatLaf

All I know is that they use skiko.

It built on a render framework named skia, JetBrains create a kotlin mapping which named skiko for it.

I was curious to give it a go but unusable on Gnome 42.5; the window lags so much that simply trying to drag to reposition it on the screen is impossible seems related an issue with Skiko and OpenGL reported here: https://github.com/JetBrains/skiko/issues/494

Fleet does not use Compose, but it does use Skiko[1], which also provides binding for Skia[2] (the native graphics library also used by Chrome & Flutter).

The main difference between the libraries is that Skija provides Java/JVM bindings for Skia, whereas Skiko provides Kotlin bindings for Kotlin/JVM, Kotlin/JS, and Kotlin/Native targets. Of course Skiko's Kotlin/JVM bindings can be used with other JVM languages, not just with Kotlin.

[1] https://github.com/JetBrains/skiko

[2] https://skia.org/

How about skiko?

JetBrains is moving from skija to skiko, but it could be interesting either way!

They Merged today the functions that will be usaged on Compose for opening, closing and handling text inputs https://github.com/JetBrains/skiko/pull/455 (if I understand correctly). Currently, the examples rely on xcodegen file, based on the currently plugin that Compose has for Desktop, it provide alot of things including packaging for desktop, I think they will provide a xcodegen file automatically and use xcodegen behind the scenes to generate everything needed.

https://github.com/JetBrains/skiko (a Kotlin MPP binding for Skia). Skiko Does not contain build for iOS. Now Skiko contains build for iOS, MAC arm processor via Kotlin/Native. So we can use Skiko for pure canvas rendering in all platform. It is matter of time they release compose for iOS. So UI also goes multiplatform.

But it does seem like the solution they're using for Fleet is different. Skia is the same graphics library used by Chromium and Flutter. I'll remain cautiously optimistic for now, but the quality of the text rendering and customization options will make or break it for me personally.

JVM UI isn't so bad. I've written some pretty modern looking UI with it. The sophisticated controls are all there.

Modern JavaFX theme: https://github.com/mkpaz/atlantafx

Modern Swing theme: https://github.com/JFormDesigner/FlatLaf

And these days Compose Multiplatform: https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/compose-multiplatform/

I tend to use Kotlin rather than Java but of course Java is perfectly fine too. You can also use Clojure.

If you use any of those frameworks you can distribute to Win/Mac/Linux in one command with Conveyor. It's free for open source apps and can do self-signing for Windows if you don't want to pay for the certificates or the Store (but the Store is super cheap these days, $19 one off payment for an individual). Also supports Electron and Flutter if you want to use those.

From those frameworks you can then access whatever parts of the Windows API you want. Flutter even has WinRT bindings these days! So it's not quite so bad.

FlatLaf, a modern open-source cross-platform Look and Feel for Java Swing desktop applications, brings exciting new features in versions 3.0 and 3.1 🎉 😀

Here’s the link to the “extras” subproject, and there you’ll find a section on the “UI Inspector” tool.

Swing with FlatLaf - https://github.com/JFormDesigner/FlatLaf

Take a look at FlatLAF:

https://github.com/JFormDesigner/FlatLaf

They have done a great job bringing a modern appearance to the Swing components.

Creating your own Look and Feel is a huge task (just look at the size of e.g. the FlatLaf code.

I too find it a bit frustrating at HiDPI. Best I've come up with is to use https://github.com/JFormDesigner/FlatLaf

And as far as Swing's aesthetics, I only agree with the sentiment that 'it's ugly' if a custom LAF isn't used, like one from flatlaf.