does anyone know of a multiplatform UI abstraction layer? in particular something that allows me to create the same tabs, textfields, dropdowns, etc in html/js and tornadofx ? (and potentially android/iOS later)

There is! I'll try to find a link.

i am trying to use this.. but it seems liek the dev did not declare transitive dependenciesi n hte pom properly.. so i am now just waiting for the next library requirement to pop up in a error, it looks like exactly what i want though..

Found the dev. https://kotlinlang.slack.com/archives/C3PQML5NU/p1551258645156300

that date lines up with the last maven artifact at least, but the github is active

There's a lot of work still going on. My job also amped up a lot, so I've had very little time to work on it. It'll get there.