title: Swing Menu dimensions
body: <p>Greetings. I am trying to learn Java and Swing (today is my first day).</p>
  
  <p>I have been able to set up a menu in my test application. but the items occupy very little space (they are narrow). How do I go about extendng the amount of space it uses?</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?087aa4c9dc.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Screenshot http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?087aa4c9dc.jpg</a></p>
  
  <p>I am studying <em>Teach Yourself Java 6 in 21 Days 5th Ed</em>, Java Swing, 2nd Edition, 2002 and Teach Yourself Programming With Java In 24 Hours, 4th Edition (2005) but none of them shed any light on this issue.</p>
  
  <p><strong>EDIT:</strong></p>
  
  <p>Menu code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    JMenu _Game = new JMenu("Game");
  
      JMenuItem _New = new JMenuItem("New");
  
      JMenuItem _Exit = new JMenuItem("Exit");
  
      JMenu _Turn = new JMenu("Turn");
  
      JMenuItem _Red = new JMenuItem("Red");
      JMenuItem _Yellow = new JMenuItem("Yellow");
  
      _Turn.add(_Red);
      _Turn.add(_Yellow);
  
      _Game.add(_New);
      _Game.addSeparator();
      _Game.add(_Turn);
      _Game.addSeparator();
      _Game.add(_Exit);
  
      JMenu _Help = new JMenu("Help");
      JMenuItem _About = new JMenuItem("About");
      _Help.add(_About);
  
  
      JMenuBar _MenuBar = new JMenuBar();
      _MenuBar.add(_Game);
      _MenuBar.add(_Help);
  
      setJMenuBar(_MenuBar);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>EDIT: Solved!</p>
  
  <pre><code>JMenuItem _New = new JMenuItem("New        ");
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>just add spaces as needed! simple.</p>