• Button graphics (a la Macintosh/Unix "skins").
• Background textures.
• Smoothed lines on plots and circles, etc.

The 1.2 modules have no added functionality over the 1.1 modules. In fact, they're slower and less responsive. But they are prettier.

Most browsers will not run these modules unless a Java 1.2 plugin is installed on your computer. Many plugins are small and quick to install, but Java is not. The Java plugin is a small operating system, and if you've found the right object to download, it should be about 5-6 Mbytes. Either the 1.2.x or 1.3.x families of plugins will do for CourseWare's purposes. Java 1.2 is possibly more stable, 1.3 the direction the world is going.

The Java Plugin appears to be available for Windows, Sparc, and Linux. It is NOT available for Macs. Java 1.2 is promised in the MacOS X operating system upgrade. Which isn't really a "plugin" sort of concept, but... We have no idea if CourseWare 1.2 will run on MacOS X. If you try it, Please email me!

• Java 1.3 Plugin page at JavaSoft.com

• Java 1.2 Plugin page at JavaSoft.com

Note: On either page, you're looking for the "JRE" (Java Run-time Environment, which also installs the plugin.) If the download is more than 7 Mbytes, you've found the wrong object--keep looking! The 30+Mbyte downloads are for computer programmers, not computer users.

• These modules have been tested only on Netscape 4.73 and Internet Explorer 5.0, on a Win98 system, using mostly JRE 1.2 (they were developed under 1.3). If you use anything else at all, I'd be very, very grateful to hear how it worked out. Please email me!