JComponent () { JPanel north = new JPanel(); north.setLayout(new VerticalFlowLayout(VerticalFlowLayout.TOP, 0, 0, true, true)); final JPanel namePanel = createNamePanel(); namePanel.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT); north.add(namePanel); createCheckBoxes(north); myGetterPanel = createFieldPanel(); myGetterPanel.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT); north.add(myGetterPanel); final JPanel root = new JPanel(new BorderLayout()); mySignaturePanel = createSignaturePanel(); root.add(mySignaturePanel, BorderLayout.CENTER); root.add(north, BorderLayout.NORTH); return root; }