Yah, You can use the border layout in an applets.
This is the way to use the border layout in an applets
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
setFont(new Font("Helvetica", Font.PLAIN, 14));
add("North", new Button("North"));
add("South", new Button("South"));
add("East", new Button("East"));
add("West", new Button("West"));
add("Center", new Button("Center"));