In addition to the usual bug fixes and getting the internal implementation ready for the changes coming in the next major release, Substance 5.3 (code-named Reykjavik) will introduce three new skins. Graphite Aqua is joining Magellan and Gemini; it is based on the existing Raven Graphite skins, adding the blue highights found in HUD windows in iPhoto 09. To use it in your application, you have the following options:

• -Dswing.defaultlaf=org.jvnet.substance.api.skin.SubstanceGraphiteAquaLookAndFeel
• UIManager.setLookAndFeel(new SubstanceGraphiteAquaLookAndFeel())
• UIManager.setLookAndFeel("org.jvnet.substance.api.skin.SubstanceGraphiteAquaLookAndFeel")
• SubstanceLookAndFeel.setSkin(new GraphiteAquaSkin())

Here are a few screenshots that show this new skin. A small frame with a tabbed pane and a few different controls:

Highlights on selected items in lists and trees:

A thumbnail of the main Substance test application (click for full-size view):

Error dialog from SwingX components:

Login dialog from SwingX components:

A few sliders:

As with all Substance core skins, this is work in progress and will be polished over time. The Graphite Aqua skin will be officially available in the next few days as part of the 5.3 release candidate.

In addition to the usual bug fixes and getting the internal implementation ready for the changes coming in the next major release, Substance 5.3 (code-named Reykjavik) will introduce three new skins. The first is Magellan which is based on the design of the Ballpark website (found via Hongkiat) and is reminiscent of the vibrant colors of the Windows XP taskbar ans Start menu.

To use it in your application, you have the following options:

• -Dswing.defaultlaf=org.jvnet.substance.api.skin.SubstanceMagellanLookAndFeel
• UIManager.setLookAndFeel(new SubstanceMagellanLookAndFeel())
• UIManager.setLookAndFeel("org.jvnet.substance.api.skin.SubstanceMagellanLookAndFeel")
• SubstanceLookAndFeel.setSkin(new MagellanSkin())

Here are a few screenshots that show this new skin. A small frame with a tabbed pane and a few different controls:

Highlights on selected items in lists and trees:

A frame with menu bar, tool bar and status bar from SwingX project:

A thumbnail of the main Substance test application (click for full-size view):

Error dialog from SwingX components:

Login dialog from SwingX components:

A few sliders:

As with all Substance core skins, this is work in progress and will be polished over time. The Magellan skin will be officially available in the next few days as part of the 5.3 release candidate.

Release 5.2 of Substance look-and-feel made a few visual changes to the Raven Graphite skins, but these did not address the overall usability of these skins – especially the contrast between the background and the controls, and the background / foreground contrast of text components.

The latest drop of version 5.3dev (code named Reykjavik) features significant overhaul of both Raven Graphite skins, aiming to address the contrast usability issues raised by the users.

Here is a screenshot of a sample application under the Raven Graphite skin in the latest stable 5.2 release:

And here is the same application under the 5.3dev drop:

Here is another screenshot of the same application under the old Raven Graphite visuals:

and the new visuals under the latest 5.3dev drop:

The main changes are:

• Removing the watermark that contributed significant visual noise
• Darker border color for controls, bringing more delineation to check boxes and radio buttons
• Darker background color for text components, resulting in better readability

The same changes were made for the Raven Graphite Glass skin. Here is the sample application under the stable 5.2 release:

and here is the same application under the latest 5.3dev drop:

In addition to the visual changes above, the Raven Graphite Glass skin has removed the glass arc gradient from the toolbars and added a two-tone separator to delineate the title bar / menu bar from the rest of the application content.

To illustrate the visual difference in a larger content, here is a screenshot of a big UI under the stable 5.2 release (click to see the full-size view):

and the same application under the 5.3dev branch:

If you want to take the new visuals for a spin, click on the WebStart button below and change the skin to Raven Graphite and Raven Graphite Glass from the “Skins” menu:

You’re more than welcome to take the latest 5.3dev drop for a spin and leave your comments.

As mentioned in the JavaOne presentation on the Flamingo ribbon component, there are a few small features missing in the Swing implementation. The first drop of version 4.2dev (code-named Hiolair) now provides support for placing small command buttons in ribbon galleries.

A ribbon gallery is a compact way to display a large number of buttons that control the specific visual appearance of the selected document element. The ribbon gallery fits itself to the available horizontal space, and allows two navigation modes:

• Using the scroll-up and scroll-down buttons to view additional button rows inside the ribbon itself
• Using the expand button to view all the buttons in a scrollable popup

Here is how a ribbon gallery hosting big command buttons looks like:

And when it is expanded (with the bottom-right button), it looks like this:

Up until now the ribbon has supported placing only big buttons in ribbon galleries. Starting with version 4.2, the new JRibbonBand.addRibbonGallery that gets the CommandButtonDisplayState as one of the parameters can be used to create a ribbon gallery that hosts small command buttons. The following display states are supported:

• JRibbonBand.BIG_FIXED_LANDSCAPE – this is the default display state. The buttons display big icon and text below it, and the buttons have fixed 5:4 ratio when displayed in the popup.
• JRibbonBand.BIG_FIXED. The buttons display big icon and text below it, and the buttons have fixed 1:1 ratio when displayed in the popup.
• CommandButtonDisplayState.SMALL. The buttons display only small icon with no text.

Here is a ribbon gallery that hosts small command buttons (in three rows):

And this is how it looks when it is expanded:

You’re more than welcome to take the first drop of version 4.2dev for a spin. You can also play with the WebStart demo of the ribbon under Substance look-and-feel by clicking on the button below. Switch to “Animations” task for a ribbon gallery with small command buttons.