Interacting with software can be extremely annoying or incredibly exciting -depending on the user interface. While one GUI can leave you hopelesslyconfused and deny the execution of simple tasks because you can't find theright button, another GUI can draw you in with its appealing and conclusivefeatures, making the implementation of even complex procedures a walk in thepark.
For a long time, the development of graphically advanced user interfaceswas something only desktop software developers could do, as Java simplylacked the respective toolsets. AWT and later Swing have tried to fill thegap, but are still greatly limited compared to Microsoft's Windows OS orApple's Mac OS X.
With the growing range of end-user devices that directly support Java,it's increasingly becoming the one true platform-independent environmentevery developer has been waiting for - if only the graphical user interfaceframeworks could compete with their native counterparts on Windows or MacOS.
This is where Our World Live's (OWL) Human Interface Package (HIP) comesin. HIP 1.0 for PersonalJava and HIP 1.0 for Java 2 (J2SE and J2EE) are twouser-interface frameworks that provide a complete set of out-of-the-box APIsand, according to OWL, "transcend the limitations of AWT and Swing andrevolutionize the development of Java GUIs in 100% Pure Java."
HIP 1.0 PJ
HIP PJ, written entirely in Java, is OWL's user-interface framework thatcomplies with PersonalJava 1.2 (JDK 1.1.8), which you'll find in most TVset-top boxes, Pocket PCs, and Nokia and Ericsson cellphone communicators.The most common virtual machine for Pocket PCs is the Jeode from InsigniaSolutions, which I used on my Compaq iPaq for this review. Developers canuse HIP PJ to implement a new and unique user interface for their Javaapplications (or applets). Each UI component can be arbitrarily shaped, withthe mouse reacting correctly on it, and has a transparency property from 0 =opaque to 100 = fully transparent. Components can overlap; they can be dragged, and their visual appearance,including transparency, is automatically rendered accordingly. Skins can bedefined, changed, and switched on the fly, making it easier to giveapplications the look you want. More than 80 classes, such as OWLButton,OWLDialog, OWLSlider, and OWLWindow, make up the powerful and flexibleframework. The API is built and modeled after the AWT concepts and is easyto use.
HIP 1.0 J2
HIP 1.0 J2 is OWL's user interface framework that's compliant with theJava 2 specifications. It's written entirely in Java but built along theSwing technology that's included in Java 2. It brings the same feature setto the Java 2 platform as its PersonalJava counterpart, HIP 1.0 PJ. UIcomponents can be transparent, draggable, and have true free-form shapeswith the mouse reacting exactly to the defined shape. As with HIP PJ, skinscan be defined, changed, and switched at runtime. The framework consists ofover 60 classes, such as OWLJButton, OWLJMenuBar, OWLJSlider, andOWLJTextArea, that can be used to develop state-of-the-art user interfaces
