AWT and Swing is dead, JavaFX the latest desktop development tool which also supports CSS and themes. If you want to have a desktop feel in browser and you want to use Java, GWT is another option, but it's just as bulky as JavaFX, although much less than AWT and Swing.
It's been a while since I've done any desktop applications, so can't comment on what other solutions are available other than the .NET offerings.