do the applets not work on any browser besides communicator, or are my 2 and 3 versions just messed up?

That isn't an easy question to answer. I've had a lot of experience with applets that work one way with one browser and another way (or not at all) with another. It's the downside of playing with relatively new technology (being rushed to the market before its ready). On the other hand, I've run stuff similar to what you were asked to construct on current version of IE and Netscape without problem.

From the point of view of the course, if it works on Netscape and under MetroWerks, be happy. We will use them to test your work. If you are still curious to know why it works differently or eager to get it to work under more browsers, point me at the pages containing your applets and the .java files containing the method definitions.

Tom