Can I do this with Java Applets?

[vickyrego]

First I am going to say, please don't hurt me!
I *just* finished my first year of college in Computer Science Technology at Sheridan College (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and I enjoyed the courses so much that during my summer holidays, I have so many projects I want to do!

Sadly our Java classes did not explain using Applets in web development, and this is something I am greatly interested in for personal use (as in, a personal website). I've done all the basic stuff of HTML, now Java has me really intrigued!

I would like to know if I can do this using Java Applets, and if anyone can give me some general things to point me in the right direction. I'm one of those people who can't learn from simply being taught, I have to dive right in :)

I would like to make the illusion of an actual window (with titlebar, menu bar, and the outline of the JWindow) right in the middle of an html document. The only action I would want to take place is when a user clicks on an item in the menu bar to load an html document within the window.
you can refer to this diagram if you're uncertain with my horrible description, it's the very very very first rough design sketch (i assure you, the new ones look much better!): http://www.prettypistol.com/vicky/pplayout01.jpg

I know with html there are much easier ways of doing what I'm hoping to accomplish, but I was just hoping to make this a learning experience for my summer vacation.
I start javascripting next term, but it doesn't look like we'll be learning Java in web development :(

Thanks in advance, and please don't hurt me for asking such a typical newb question...

[buntine]

Yes, I would say its possible (isn't everything?), but your going to have to duplicate the window as the original browser window will need to remain. This is because an applet must be embedded into an HTML document.

An easier way to do this would be without Java at all. Its very possible with just HTML and some CSS.

Regards.

[ray326]

Two things that complicate it are the lack of a good HTML rendering widget and the fact the applet can only load pages from the server the applet was loaded from.

[vickyrego]

Yes, that was the impression I received as well. I guess I was just way too eager to apply what I learned. I will probably be using HTML, CCS and *possibly* some javascripting anyway. I just thought that I would try :)

Thank you so much for reading my question and responding!
These are really handy forums~