- What is Matisse?
  - "Project Matisse" was the code-name for a number of advances in Java/Swing layout that was done by the NetBeans Project.
    - From the NetBeans Page:

      Project Matisse greatly reduces the learning curve and development time needed to produce professional quality Java GUIs. The project exposes simple layout rules that are easy to understand and to use quickly.... You can just use the intuitive visual form builder to produce a professional GUI easily - in the background, the IDE produces the correct implementation using a layout manager and other Swing constructs.

    - Essentially Project Matisse makes it easy to create Java/Swing GUIs in which NetBeans does most of the work.
  - Matisse uses a layout manager called Free Design.
    - Under-the-hood it uses multiple classes (one of which is `GroupLayout`), but inside NetBeans it will show up as Free Design.
    - Free Design is the default layout manager in NetBeans 5 (and later) and comes pre-configured in NetBeans 6. If you are using a version of NetBeans earlier than 6, you may have to install the "swing-layout" jar file and configure the GUI code generation options to use the Swing Layout Extensions Library.
    - Use of Free Design is totally optional. You can use any of the standard Java layout managers... but you will probably find that Free Design is the best choice for most situations.
    - Free Design is the one where you can draw the widgets any place you want without worrying about the details of how to size and position them.
  - For more information and demos, please see http://www.netbeans.org/kb/articles/matisse.html