I would think Netbeans would be the natural choice for beginners. After all, it is the IDE Sun Java recommends....
I personally use Netbeans, but am looking for something better.
I don't like how Netbeans does its indentations; I don't want four spaces, I want one tab.
I also don't like the way Netbeans builds its directories. I just want two folders, sources, and build. Not that big of a deal though...
There is an open source IDE called, Geany. With a few changes of the setting, it is almost perfect! It functions almost exactly the way I want it to. Except for when you run an application. It isn't Geany's fault though, when I run the applet, it shows up for a tenth of a second and then disappears. (I think the problem is linux related. Geany runs the application from the terminal as "java path/to/class". Don't know what is going on there.)
One feature that I have grown to like in Netbeans is how when you screw up, it tells you before you compile it. On the other hand, I find it difficult to distinguish between warnings and errors. I also dislike the way it blinks at me when I'm typing a line.....
But Geany is open source, maybe I can modify it to better suit my needs.
