Adding vertical spacing to NORTH component in BorderLayout <p>I have a JFrame with a <code>BorderLayout</code>. I added a <code>JPanel</code> to the NORTH side of the <code>JFrame</code>. In this panel I want to add components to it in an absolute positioning. In the Center side of the JFrame I added another <code>JPanel</code> which should take a huge space. However when I run the application I see nothing from the North <code>JPanel</code> as the Center <code>JPanel</code> occupied all the space of the <code>JFrame</code>! How can I give vertical space to the North JPanel?</p> <p>I really need to used absolute positioning for the north JPanel.</p> <p>Here's my code:</p> <pre><code>public class AAAA extends JFrame { private JPanel contentPane; /** * Launch the application. */ public static void main(String[] args) { EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() { public void run() { try { AAAA frame = new AAAA(); frame.setVisible(true); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }); } /** * Create the frame. */ public AAAA() { setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); setBounds(100, 100, 1136, 520); contentPane = new JPanel(); contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5)); contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0)); setContentPane(contentPane); JPanel panel = new JPanel(); contentPane.add(panel, BorderLayout.NORTH); panel.setLayout(null); JButton btnNewButton = new JButton("New button"); btnNewButton.setBounds(0, 0, 117, 29); panel.add(btnNewButton); JPanel panel_1 = new JPanel(); contentPane.add(panel_1, BorderLayout.CENTER); } } </code></pre>