By Michael Albers and Chris Ryan

Pluggable look-and-feel -- one of the most noteworthy  features of the Swing tool set -- lets developers create components that  can automatically take on the appearance and behavior of whatever operating  system they happen to be running under.

But suppose you wanted to develop a Swing application that always  have exactly the same look and feel, no matter what operating system  the user happened to be using?

That's easy. You'd create your application using Java^TM look and feel: the cross-platform  L&F implementation that ships with Swing.

The Java look and feel -- formerly called "Metal" because that  was its code name while it was beeing developed -- is designed especially  for developers who want a sleek, elegant cross-platform L&F that looks  and behaves the same across all operating systems. It became Swing's official cross-platform L&F  after receiving enthusiastic feedback from developers.

The Java Look and Feel -- previously known as Metal because that was  its project code name -- is a cross-platform design that that is shipped with Swing.

Swing also comes with a Windows look-and-feel implementation and a Motif look-and-feel design.

A fourth new look and feel design -- a Macintosh implementation  -- made its debut with the introduction of Swing 1.1 Beta. The Mac L&F implementation was initially  provided in a preview  release to let developers try it and give us feedback.

When the new Mac L&F is finalized, it will officially  become part of Swing. Stay tuned.

The cross-platform Java Look and Feel heads the JFC 1.1. lineup of new look-and-feel  designs. The article titled "The Project Metal  Report" explains how the Java L&F was designed.

To learn still more about the Java L&F -- and to get a peek at a  collection of screen shots illustrating the new Metal look -- see "The  high-level JLF Specification."

The following screen shots show the four prepackaged L&F designs that are currently available to Swing developers.

The four PL&F designs shown in the preceding picture are:

• The Java Look and Feel: Swing's default pluggable L&F implementation.
   
• The Motif look and feel, which was shipped with early-access  releases and continues to be provided Swing. The Motif L&F is supplied  as an example of an L&F that harmonizes and works well with the  Motif desktop environment.
   
• The Win32 (Windows-style) look and feel that is designed to be  used with Windows NT and Windows 95 implementations of Swing. For more  details about how the Win32 L&F is intended to be used, see the archived Commentary article titled "A  Message to Our Swing Developers."
   
• The Macintosh look and feel.

No matter how many new pluggable  L&Fs wind up being shipped with Swing, you can always create your  own custom designs.

Articles showing how to create your own PL&F implementations will  be published in upcoming issues of The Swing Connection.

Thanks for your feedback,  keep it coming

The Swing team extends many thanks to those of you who have taken the  time to give us constructive comments regarding Swing's pluggable L&Fs.  We'll do our best to keep you informed of the feedback we're receiving, our directions, and our progress.