title: Java FX: declarative vs procedural
body: <p>I have a background in web-based programming (php, jsf,...) and minimal background with swing and swt. </p>
  
  <p>Currently I'm looking at java fx 2.x for a new desktop application and I'm wondering about best practices concerning building the actual GUI. I could go the declarative route with fxml or I could go the procedural route. Currently for some quick prototyping I'm doing the latter but I was wondering whether there were compelling reasons to use fxml.</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p>
  
  <p>In the end I went the FXML route for an average-sized project and even though the scene builder beta is still somewhat unstable on my linux system, it has proven to be vastly superior to the original procedural prototype. By far the biggest advantage is that a lot of elements (especially hbox, vbox, labels, tabs,...) no longer clutter my code as they exist only in the fxml.</p>