Great post on layout by Amy Fowler, recommended reading for anyone interested in JavaFX 2.0.
JavaFX2.0 Beta is out. We’ve taken advantage of the language shift to extensively remodel the layout APIs based on a year’s worth of tire-kicking. This article (the first in a series) will introduce you to the basics. ….More
Building decent-sized applications requires layouts (unless you like pain), and the funny thing about layouts is that they’re tough…..real tough……until you bother to actually understand them. The second funny thing about layouts is that once you do understand them they’re simple and powerful. An added bonus is that your head stops hurting and your curse-words jar becomes considerably less overflowing. Finally, your children/partner/pet/pet-rock will love you more and the world will become a happier, more smiley place. This is the power of understanding layouts.
So, please, if you don’t know how to use the JavaFX layout containers, go and read Amy Fowler’s new blog. It is starting off with a bang, covering what’s new and changed in JavaFX 1.3 – and it’s well worth your time to read it. Keep reading each post until it makes sense. If you go cross-eyed or consider giving up, you’re doing yourself an injustice. Read it again!
For convenience, here’s the links you’ll want to read:
Now, go forth and read! 
Amy Fowler the layout guru has written a excelent article on layout in JavaFX 1.2, recomended reading for anyone working with or learning JavaFX.
JavaFX’s powerful scene-graph and animation engine enables gamer types to rapidly create dynamic visual scenes that are functionally expressed through binding and triggers and timelines. On the other, it’s growing controls and charts libraries clearly stake out a more traditional GUI turf. As interfaces finally graduate to the 21st century, the lines between these two worlds is blurring in exciting ways. Our challenge is to evolve the FX platform to support this convergence, which speaks precisely to why layout in JavaFX is complicated enough that it requires a blog series to explain.
There’s a great article over at InformIT by Jim Clarke about what’s new in JavaFX 1.2. Jim has been involved in JavaFX both contributing to the source and building apps since before I got involved last year.
From the article:
Once you start using JavaFX, I think you’ll find that the language is powerful yet very concise. You’ll be amazed at the things you can do with very little code. I have only discussed a few of the new JavaFX 1.2 user interface features—there’s much more to the entire JavaFX platform. I hope that this overview will provide just enough enticement for you to start your own exploration.