how to use the layout managers in swing java

Question

I\'m new to layout managers like Flow, borders, ...
I mostly use setBounds() to set the position of my components.

I read

Answer 1

..which is the best and most used layout (?)

Nested layouts. Use whatever layout works best for different groups of GUI components, then put them in panels inside other panels (with other layouts). See this Nested Layout Example for a demo. of combining layouts.

As to which best individual layouts to use, do the tutorial linked by MBFG to get a feel for what each can achieve, their strengths & weaknesses.

I will commonly use nested combinations of BorderLayout, GridLayout & FlowLayout, with an occasional GridBagLayout.