I would recommend that you use an ArrayList instead of an array to hold
the images.

I set up the Image[] coolImage array and it compiles. Now I got a
nullpointer error when I run applet. I ran a stack trace on it and the
values from the file are being read in and all is good till that point.I
think it has something to do with the
page.drawImage(coolImage[i],0,30,this);

Iam sorry for all the questions but Iam really trying to learn java. I want
to thank you again for your time and patience.

Andy

import javax.swing.JApplet;
import java.awt.Event;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.net.URL.*;

public class WebApplet extends JApplet
{
 private JButton previous,next;
 private JPanel buttonPanel;
 ArrayList names = new ArrayList();
 String[] temp;
 Image[] coolImage;
 String url,pictureName;
 Scanner fileScan, urlScan;
 Font title,documentText;
 int i = 0;

public void init()
{

    previous = new JButton("Previous");
    next = new JButton("Next");
   

   ButtonListener listener = new ButtonListener();
   previous.addActionListener(listener);
    next.addActionListener(listener);
    buttonPanel = new JPanel();
   
   add(buttonPanel);

   buttonPanel.add(previous);
    buttonPanel.add(next);
   
    try{
       readFile();
   }
   catch (IOException ioex)
    {
      ioex.printStackTrace();
    }

    Image[] coolImage = new Image[names.size()];
//    System.out.println(names.size());
  for(int j=0; j<names.size();j++) {

      coolImage[j] = getImage(getCodeBase(),(String)names.get(j));
    }   

//System.out.println(names);

} // end init()
public void readFile() throws IOException
{

 fileScan = new Scanner (new File("pictures.txt"));

     // Read and process each line of the file
     while (fileScan.hasNext())
     {

        names.add(fileScan.nextLine());
     }
        System.out.println(names);
}

public void paint(Graphics page){

  super.paint(page);
  setBackground(Color.black);

  title = new Font("Jokerman",Font.BOLD,(int)(getHeight()*0.02) );
    documentText = new Font("Courier New",Font.BOLD,(int)(getHeight()*0.02) );
   
  //set color for text
  page.setColor(Color.white);
    page.setFont(title);

   
    page.setFont(documentText);

  page.drawImage(coolImage[i],0,30,this);
   

} //end paint()

private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener
{
 public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event)
 {

   if(event.getSource()==next) {
      if(i==names.size()){
        i = names.size();
         repaint();
        }else
         i++;
         repaint();
    }
    if(event.getSource()==previous) {
      if(i==names.indexOf(0)){
       
         repaint();
        }else
         i--;
         repaint();
    }

    }
   
}   

} //end webApplet