yes it is

I would say whatever works for You, should be good enough. With time and experience comes also the knowledge what should change, if anything at all.

I don't think I can give You any straight suggestions, but I'll describe a approach that my own GUI has.
Basically, it has 3 layers/abstractions/components:
* The object model - This is the button that reacts to the button presses and calls out the actions, the input, that accepts texts etc.
* The renderers - This is the layer, that actually paints/renders the objects to the world.
* The themer/styler - This is the "layer", that has the style info: the colors, the fonts, the images, borders etc

Having separated the model from the renderer gives me the ability to change the renderer pretty easy. I myself, during my learning, have rewritten one of my games/tech demos, 2 different times: from java2D -> slick -> libgdx. As far as my UI was concerned, this meant only replacing my renderers.

Now having separated the styler from the renderer means, that I can define different styles, either between different games, or why not, have one or more alternative looks for my given one game.

Basically, if You look at it, this seems very familiar:
* The object model = HTML
* The renderer = browser
* The styler = CSS

Depending on Your needs, You can merge one or the other layer and have a little less complexity for a little less flexibility: for example, model + renderer (the button itself knows how to draw it) or renderer + styler (every object is custom-drawn).

I do think, most of the GUI's have similar ideas and as I red, You yourself were also moving along the same pathway.

Now, how this all should look in code, is an implementation detail.

I'm a java software dev (depending on the project, I've had other roles as well: architect, support, maintainer, main customer contact, team lead, tester, etc) , developing custom software for telecoms and banking. Have done eclipse based tools for industrial automation software (our tool generated C code that went into embedded systems) and also done web based tools.

But currently, I am responsible of creating auto-testing capabilities for a web based system built in php. You know, for a change, something different than the last 5~10 years ...

A stacktrace would be nice, but currently the line

does currently nothing.

Nice video.
Though the "water" seems to be more of a jelly. While watching the video, I would have expected that the bottom layer flows faster than it currently does. The water stacks a block and then goes to the next one. Non-intuitive. Also the water in the container emptied itself vertically before horizontally.
Will You be keeping it like that ?

I haven't done anything with JavaFX nor do I know anything about it really.
But I do know that there are some plans to get JavaFX to Android (how realistic the plans are, do not know) and I know that some ppl have it working on their phone, more or less.

My point wasn't that ppl should use it now or whatever. It was rather "here, take a look, if You are interested"

The long term plan is to get JavaFX officially working on mobile platforms as well. Currently Oracle is targeting the desktops and embedded systems.
For example: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20860931/is-it-possible-to-run-javafx-applications-on-iphone-android-win8-mobile
So it's possible and I would even say it's viable solution even for a long term plan.

The question rather is, does it help or is viable, to You, right now

Without really knowing Your needs, You might also find help from alternative approaches.
For example quite a few games pre-render the need fonts as bitmap fonts and then use the bitmap fonts in game/app.
Hiero with libgdx  https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/wiki/Hiero

Then there is also this alternative: http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/opengl-font-without-textures/31222/view.html

Definitely will be interesting.

I dislike maven as much as the next guy, on my personal projects I use ant and manual jar management and that is my conscious choice, knowing fully what that beholds.

However, I do use maven extensively at work, jar hell is a concept, we don't know, everything just works (well, not always..) .
Maven itself is 3mb, it's a single install and there is nothing more to download. All the downloads maven does, are project dependent, the dependencies come from the jar's not from maven.
In the end, whatever You build or however You manage Your system, You are doing the same thing, just manually.

As long as You are aware of those things and don't dismiss the tools as "bloat" (as do C developers dismiss java, cause its "slow" and "bloat" and "noone uses it" and "no real programmer would ever use java") etc, just because, then whatever choice You make is fine. Just be aware of Your choices and approach openmindedly.

Curly brackets start a new scope. I've seen only a few times, this kind of scoping is used within a method body. As one would guess, You can live without it.

Yep, javafx is very nice. Can't wait it to be THE default UI framework.

You probably have to enable it in some settings

I'm not sure, but I think there might be possible for Eclipse to teach him, to warn about angry faces. Unless, they are in regular use as well, then it'd be annoying.

Nice work
But I have a few questions.
Why not JavaFX instead of swing ?
And why not framework native color-picker ?

There are various ways to block execution of certain methods or even block class loading, which ever You need.
So if the question is: is it possible to block dangerous code execution, then it's a "yes"

I think there was a thread not long ago talking about preventing code execution, I think the thread was about scripting. Search around JGO.

It's not impossible.
I myself have not needed that effect but here are 2 links after searching "opengl texture brightness"
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1325088/altering-brigthness-on-opengl-texture
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1506299/applying-brightness-and-contrast-with-opengl-es

Note that LibGDX uses GLES so the second link might be more relevant.

Welcome to the future !

Your first problem is Your attitude. From every post You make regarding LibGDX, it is felt that You are frustrated and that You are forced to work with it. Human mind is a very complex and very conservative, lets say party. If You have a negative attitude, then everything You do reinforces that negativity, until You find a surprise, which, by definition, does not happen regularly. So my first suggestion is to try to be more open minded. Lwjgl and LibGDX are different beasts, although related. Instead of "oh no, why is it so, in the other place it was better" try to be more like "oh wow, something new, interesting"

LibGDX supports "OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES)" version 1.0 and version 2.0. Although it's still OpenGL, it's a different beast than regular, desktop GL. This means the differences might come from the stripped down nature of GLES or they might come from the GLES being more strict.

For comments, I just block select ant ctrl+shift+C (on eclipse)(Line comments on whole block)
For me hitting a whole line or block is easier than hitting one character.

You definitely need to get rid of that attitude (I did notice the ending of the sentence). If Your mind is made up negatively, even before You do anything, You will find lots and lots of hurdles and problems that just reinforce Your negative attitude. Not to mention, with a negative attitude You are in a hostile waters (on these boards) and it will be felt on every thread.
The most important thing You need, while trying new things, is an open mind, so try to have one and experience the "slowness" and "bloatness" and "memory hogging" Yourself.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that LibGDX cross-compiles onto different platforms. This means that quite a few games out there have been written in Java, but live their lives as HTML5 games.

My programs run 3 infinite loops in a second.

So basically, the have a huge cloud AND make money from it.

It is NSA's attempt to make a massive rainbow database, with any possible string formats.
Just need a bit of carrot, like make the currency exchangeable with RL money and maybe drive the "value" up and You have basically a huge cloud of password crackers.

This is awesome.
Unfortunately, ascii only, which is too little for my needs.

The best source for learning material, for LibGDX, are the tests.
Definitely get the test and sources, whatever problem You might have, there is a high chance of a test already covering it.

Edit: Location aswell:https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/tree/master/tests

Sorry, I edited my reply (touching the subject of colors) while You asked the last question.
10f does not have a meaning in color channel, since 1f is the max.

The color, You add to SpriteBatch is a "tint" not an "abosolute" color. This means that the sprite and color are blended together.
LibGDX uses shaders and looking at the SpriteBatch shader, the colors are multiplied "gl_FragColor = v_color * texture2D(u_texture, v_texCoords);"

So what You can do. You can modify Your sprite (externally or at runtime) to make it brither (add more white). Or You could write Your own shader, that gives You more control over the colors.

Edit: Colors have 4 channels, 1 byte per channel. As a float, the channel values range from 0f (nothing) to 1f (everything). As such, 10f does not sense make any.

It might have worked previously, yet it is still Eclipse that is responsible for refreshing and keeping the workplace up-to-date.
Try this "Preferences -> General -> Workspace" and "Refresh using native hooks or poll" and "Refresh on Access"

Here's a bit of reading, maybe You'll get some ideas. Both engines are multy-player FPS engines which means they have high demand on the networking, which may or may not apply to Your needs, but both are well worth reading anyway.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Multiplayer_Networking
http://fabiensanglard.net/quake3/network.php