Hi, Matt! To answer you questions:
1. Yes, you need to pay attention to case sensitivity. I tried using "web-inf" and "CLASSES" as my directory names. Both didn't work.
2. Yes, you can put your com.yadda.yadda in your "classes" directory. In fact you can put them anywhere as long as you put their corresponding class files in the "classes" directory.
3. Personally, I make a "src" directory under "WEB-INF" where I put all my .java files. Then I specify in my IDE (Eclipse) that my build output path is the "classes" directory.
4. You have to put your properties file directly under the WEB-INF directory. This is according to the specifications defined by Sun.
Hope this helps! Goodluck!
[ October 21, 2002: Message edited by: Nikki Aniban ]