When using the
BorderLayout
manager, a container is pragmatically divided into five distinct regions. It's important to understand these regions and their behavior to effectively use the
BorderLayout
in your Java applications.
- North (Top): This region spans the top of the container. It's common to place navigation menus or toolbars here.
- South (Bottom): This area stretches across the bottom and is often used for status bars or control buttons.
- East (Right): Occupies the right side, which could be used for additional tools or information panels.
- West (Left): The west takes up the left side, similar to east, it can accommodate navigation or additional controls.
- Center: The center takes up the remaining space and is usually the main work area where the core content is displayed.
Each region is sized to fit the components added to it, with the center expanding to occupy all remaining space after the other four regions have been accounted for. This is why the center is ideal for the primary content, as it makes the most of the available space.