How do I… Use Flash animation to duplicate the marquee tag effect?

Most Web designers and developers are glad that the marquee tag is dead and buried. However, if you have a boss or a client that is insistent upon using the marquee tag in a Web site, you do have an option that allows for a lot more control in the looks and functionality of a line of scrolling text. CSS can’t help us here unless you incorporate a rather knotty chunk of JavaScript, so I’ll show you how to create the marquee tag effect using animation and a few lines of ActionScript in Flash CS3.

The marquee tag is one of the more infamous HTML tags. It was a tag that was never fully supported by the W3C. As the name implies, text enclosed by the marquee tag scrolled from right to left when displayed in a Web browser. It was only supported by earlier versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and was incompatible with Netscape. However, IE7 will still display the tag, as will recent versions of Firefox and Safari.

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Home Business Web Designers Announced New Services – 3D web Design & 3D Animation

On its way of celebrating years of success in integrated web solutions, India-designers aims at entering and capturing the market of 3D animations as well.

India Designers, one of the leading website design and Development Company in India has recently announced its new services for its offshore customers. India Designers has recently added 3D graphics and animation design.

Getting employed expert 3-D Animators having expertise in offering unique identity to your corporate business, this leading web design company is ready to set a mark in providing complete unique web design services in combination with its other custom web designing, logo designing, corporate identity designs, flash animations, software development and seo services.

In the present online web business scenario the Entrepreneurs wants to give an attractive look to their online website for their online customers, so that they can make the viewers involved with their business for long. In this aspect 3D Graphics web & animation plays an important role in luring the online customers towards the site. 3D graphics and animation gives unique looks to any websites.

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Animation Art - 5 Of The Most Common Mediums Purchased By Collectors

Animation Cels - A cel (short for celluloid) is a blank clear plastic sheet used by the studio artist to paint an animated character or object based on the animator's original pencil drawing. The cels are then placed over a background and photographed in sequence to produce an illusion of life in the completed film or cartoon short. Every cel is different but this does not mean that every cel is unique. Often multiple copies of a cel were created by the Inkers as color models in order to advance their technique and skills in Animation Art.

Limited Edition Cels - A non production hand painted cel created for sale to the collectors market. It is produced in fixed limited quantities and are easily identified by a fraction (150/500) in the lower right hand corner. They were not used in films or cartoon shorts, and the original intent was to recreate the original production cels. Nowadays many studios release new images not based on production artwork.

Sericels - A non production cel created by means of a printing process similar to silk screening. No work is done by hand, therefore no painting or inking is involved. They are often produced in limited quantities of 5000, and they are marketed as a low cost alternative to production and limited edition cels.

Animation Drawings - A drawing on paper in pencil, sometimes colored which is created by a studio artist of an animated character or object for which the cels are later created.

Giclee - The French term "Giclée", literally meaning "spray of ink," is used to describe these prints. Four precision nozzles spray up to a million microscopic droplets per second on to fine art paper. Then, each piece of paper is individually hand-mounted. Displaying a full color spectrum, the prints are lush and velvety, capturing the subtle nuances of the original artwork.

About the Author:

Paul Callis is the proprietor of Premier Animation, a respected Animation Art Gallery in the UK. Paul’s passion for Animation Art, has helped collectors unable to source this fine medium, own pieces of art they thought were impossible to locate, and allowing many unknown to this specialized art form, gain great knowledge and understanding. You can visit Premier Animation’s web site, and see a fantastic collection at http://www.premieranimation.com, as well as reading information and comments on animation art.

Flash Design for a More Dynamic Web Presence

If you have been running with a basic website since the inception of your online presence, you may want to look into developing something a bit more dynamic. Today’s World Wide Web is full of competitors. Your competition is doing what you are doing on the web, but they may be doing it better. The key is to stay up on the latest technology and to not be afraid to try new things on your site. Obviously, you want to do a bit of market research before you plunge ahead with an entire new set up, but if you get together with any of the fine Denver flash development experts available, you can get some wonderful ideas for how to do a lot on your website with a few changes.

Flash design has been around for a while now, though most website owners who are not computer professionals do not really know what it is. You may have downloaded the Macromedia Flash Player for free in order to see movie previews, company presentations, or music videos, but you may not be familiar with flash technology beyond that daily use. Flash development, Denver web design, or systems development teams are all capable of telling you more about flash.

Basically, your website is probably written in HTML, a code that is used to tell the computer what to display on the screen. There are other codes gaining popularity now, but the older ones are still constructed with HTML. This code language allows the computer to display images and text in a static manner. In other words, you can display an article or a photograph, but not a cartoon or a moving title. HTML is limited to fixed positions.

If you want a more dynamic site, you need to move beyond this language and enter the world of flash. So many websites online include some form of flash today that it is unusual for a large company not to have something in motion somewhere in the site. You can make text, images, and animations move around on the screen. But this is just the beginning.

Before flash really took hold, programmers used GIF images or java applets to create movement on the screen. GIF images are simply loops of the same images played over and over, and they take forever to load. Java applets are very limited in how they can be used and tend to come with some inherent kinks, such as limited color variability.

But Denver flash development firms can now take you to the next level, by allowing you to play movies, virtual animation, and other dynamic elements on your site. That’s because flash is interactive. Your client can point the mouse at flash animation and make it stop or start, can click and drag it somewhere, or even add to it if the program allows for that. In fact, flash movies are actually easier to create than java applets but allow for much more interactivity.

Flash movies also work with up to 256 colors, the standard for online full-color images. And although the original movies seemed to take forever to load, now that almost all internet users are online with a high speed connection, the flash movies load faster than the old GIF animations.

So talk to a professional flash developer today about how you can make your customers’ online experience more dynamic.

Mr. Morris-Reeves runs NewMediaDenver,an Internet technology company located in downtown Denver, Colorado.Mr. Morris-Reeves is highly respected SEO Expert since 10 years, and he constantly develops and stays current with all the latest SEO and Link Building Techniques.

Funny Animation

Animation is a very special media form. It allows the complete re-presentation of reality. Funny animation attracts attention of viewers to get into the purpose. Website, presentations, product demos, advertisements, public show must have some funny animation stuff to attract the reader or viewers. This is a very easy now with the help of computer, software and tools. Generating animation graphics and making it animated is also funny work. Animation may not be so powerful but widely used and appreciated. Funny animations are popular in computer games, Cartoon channels, blockbuster movies etc. Funny Animation is used to fill in the gaps when reality simply doesn't look real enough.

Funny Animation is the process of linking a series of slightly different funny cartoon drawings together to simulate a movement. There are normally 24 or less frames per second in moving film and it happens similar in animated GIFs you see on websites.

Techniques used for Funny Animations:
There are three different techniques types of cartoon animation: 1. Cel Animation cartoons are made on transparent sheets (celluloid) laid on top of each other to combine characters and backgrounds. 2. Stop Motion Animation is model or cartoons or puppet (or shadow) is shot a frame at a time, with tiny changes in positions. 3. Computer animation where computer is used for creating the shapes and colors of animated action, working from a series of mathematical codes, or can be drawn frame by frame cartoons.

Popular Usage of Funny Animation:
In User Interface design in software, web applications and websites, many funny animations are popularly used. The buttons, pop up stuff, comment box, help (like MS word help and search dog) are designed with animations that give a pleasure look at the animation. There are numerous funny animations are used in electronic advertisement on Internet and television media. Advertisers can make funny animation advertisement film without a human model. They can redirect the animation character to any extent. There are many cartoon animation films have been made in Hollywood film industry.

Making of Animations
Storyboards preparation is the first document work that conveys the list of task to be done sequentially. Making shapes body, faces, hands, legs, dress up and putting color are sequential steps. You can use some common shape, alphabets for making of face, flower, tree, house etc. Based on the distant of objects you have to draw the sizes of the objects or character. In computer you can repeat a partial drawing using mirror images effects. There are many effects, layer works can be designed for animating objects. Flip Book is a sample that can be used while making animation graphics in computer. You can draw frame by frame graphics and change in each frame like flip book sequential images. You will find a good animation of your drawing object.

Think of some funny sounds that match to your animation object movements or character movements. Funny sounds like laughs, claps, chains clanking, footsteps, doors creaking, whistle, wind, rain, thunder and lightening, barking dog etc. can be collected from libraries and incorporate in specific frames. To be a good funny animator, you need to think about how shapes can change and move with humorous way.

AniBoom has a founding team having rich experience from different fields of Television, media managing, animation especially funny animation and able to bring all of their experience, as in synergy, into the Internet.

Article Source: http://www.1articleworld.com

Shakir A is an independent writer on Interactive Marketing, Animation Movies, Cartoons and other related topics for Internet marketing, PPC, SEO, SEM, Online Marketing. Currently writing more and more for AniBoom.Com www.aniboom.com/

3d Background For Power point Presentations

It is definite that Microsoft power point presentations are one of the most powerful tools to today’s businessman. If you do not have an idea of how to use the MS power point then you are definitely at a huge loss. When you are approaching VCs to get funding with your business and marketing plans, or when you are going to make a presentation to your team mates to make them aware of the business opportunity which you have just discovered, it is the MS power point that is going to help you.

Target Audience Are Important:

In any type of presentation it is very important to attract the audience in the first shot it self. As we all know, first impression is the best impression. If the audience are not interested in seeing and observing your presentation, no matter how good your presentation skills are and no matter how good your presentation material is, it is definitely not going to create the impact which you are looking for on your target audience.

3d Backgrounds:

In order to get that much needed first impression, one thing that can help you is the background, which you choose for your MS power point presentation. Template of the presentation can really attract the audience at your presentation. 3d backgrounds are really gaining popularity in the recent times even for the formal business presentations. These 3d backgrounds for MS power point presentations can make your over all presentation very attractive.

Main Points To Consider:
There are good numbers of 3d backgrounds available for free on the Internet. Even Microsoft is releasing some good number of templates with 3d backgrounds in the recent times. Some of the basic precautions that you have to take while considering 3d backgrounds for your power point presentations are:

• Try and use a single background for the whole presentation.
• The colors, which you use in the foreground for your presentation, should look in nice accordance with the 3d background.
• If you use animated 3d background, keep in mind that the animation effects do not distract the concentration of your audience.
• If you can take these simple precautions, these backgrounds can really help you in making your presentation a very impressive one.

Visit http://www.graphic-design.in/

Source : http://www.articlewise.com/

Design Considerations For Animated Websites

Web sites with animation, sound, video, and other enhancements can be interesting and promote user interactivity. However, websites with all the bells and whistles can also take too long to download and discourages users. Fortunatley, a wealth of techniques and options are available to help keep download time to a minimum.

-Bandwidth, which is the transfer rate of data to the user's browser, has hindered the development of websites with multiple media effects and enhancements.

-Many techniques and options are available to help keep website graphics and animation download time to a minimum and include use of tables, colour reduction and optimization of graphics, use of thumbnails, reuse of images, optimal placements of scripts, and selection offast loading type of web browsers such as Firefox.

-Several online web software tools are available to perform various tests on your web sites, such as web site garage, sitescan survey, pehtoori (html validation service), link alarm, and site inspector.

Bandwidth Issues

It was not long ago that the norm was the 56K modem. Today, many users (appr 55%) still use the 56K modems for surfing, so bandwidth must still be a concern to website designers. However, with technological advances such as fast cable modems, TI lines, etc, bandwidth will become less of a concern in the future. However, today you must still design websites with bandwidth in mind.

Many techniques and options are available to help keep website graphics and animation download times to a minimum. The following tips will help you create web pages that load as quickly as possible:

Use tables for putting graphics together to reduce the size of a gif animation. Depending on what your animation is like, tables can help reduce its overall file size. For example, you may have an image you want to animate, but only a small part of the image will actually be the animation. You can manually cut up the image into different pieces using a program like photoshop, or automatically, using a special utility like Ulead SmartSaver Pro. If you use photoshop, you must put the resulting graphics back together in your html editor using table cells. Programs like SmartSaver creat the html file with the graphics already in the table cells. By slicing up your image into sections, the samll part of the image that animates will now be in a table cell by itself. The rest of the image in the other table cells does not become part of tthe actual animation itself, thus reducing file size.

Reduce the colour palette of your gif animation. You can greatly reduce the size of your gif animation by reducing the number of colours in its colour palette. For example, if you have a 256 colour image and decrease its colour's to 64, the size of the animation will be significantly smaller. However, too much colour reduction may have an effect on image quality. Obviously, some complexities exist for animated gif creation. Fortunatley, several software options are available that help with palette and overall gif animation optimization, such as Equilibrium's Debabilizer, Digital Frontier's HVC ColorGif, Ulead's gif animator, as well as online gif optimizing services, such as gif wizard, and gif cruncher.

Reuse images throughout a website. Reusing images, if possible, is another way to decrease download time since the browser downloads and places the images in the pc's cache. For example, if you use an image on your home page and then use the same images on four other pages of the website, the image has to download just once. Thus, download time is kept to a minimum since one image downloads instead of five separate images.

Specify Height and Width in your html code for your animated gif images. You should always specify height and width in your html code for your animated gif images. If you do not specify height and width in your html code, then the browser will wait for the graphic to load before loading the text. You should also be aware that setting the height and width in your html code to a size smaller than the graphic will not reduce download time since the image's file size will remain the same as it was before.

Specify a low-res image to display as a high res image loads. You can create a low -res variation of a jpg or gif image to appear while waiting for the high res image to finish downloading. When you do this, the page appears to load much faster to the user. In reality, the extra image actually adds to the total download time. To add a low-res variation, you simply add an attribute to the image tag like the following:

IMG src="image-high-res.gif" lowsrc="image-low-res.gif"

Be sure to use jpgs for colourful photographic images. While you could compress your photographic images as gif images, jpeg compresses colourful images with generally better results, since jpg images offer 24 bit colour compared to gif images' 256 colours.

Substitute thumbnails for larger images on a webpage.

Use interlaced jpg and gif images. You can save your images as interlaced jpg and gif images that will display a preview of the images as they load.

Alright, now go and CREATE!

About Author : M.Adley is webmaster @ your3dsource.com , a resource for beginner to intermediate web designers and 3D artists. Learn Computer Animation Gif Animations

Source : http://www.articleblotter.com/

Use Of Graphic Design To Increase Website Useability

There can be no argument about the importance of design in attracting Internet users to a particular web site. No one would bother to explore the contents of a site if it does not contain eye-catching graphics that can please the visual sense of the users. With so many kinds of web sites existing online, it is extremely challenging to attract users and keep them interested in the site.

But a web site developer does not simply apply graphics freely on a site. Graphics should be used in the correct manner, or else, users might get turned off because the graphics featured just overwhelmed or confused them.

While it is true that attractive design is important for reasons that need not be explained, the choice of design must be carefully considered against the fulfilling the needs of users. When done successfully, it could be safely said that the web site has achieved its goals.

Graphics used in the Internet is inextricably linked to multimedia. Multimedia is a combination of graphics, text, sound, and animation to express a message to users. The multimedia features that will be incorporated to a web site should be dependent on the content. In general, multimedia and graphics should serve as supports to content, and should have precise, instructional purpose.

According to research, animated images can facilitate the transfer of learning in a positive way if it is utilized to show a vital part of the concept that is being illustrated. On the other hand, animation can serve as a barrier to user recall and performance.

Here are the guidelines in incorporating graphics to web sites:

1. Justify the usage of the graphics
   The most obvious problem that can be seen on web pages is the over-usage of graphics. The main downside of this is that complicated, unnecessary graphics can take a long time to download, and this, of course, will not sit well with users. The graphics to be applied should support the transfer of data and should also be in relation to the accompanying text.
2. The difference between graphics with text-redundant data and those containing information that is non-redundant is that the former facilitates and ushers in the learning process, while the latter does not either help or slow down learning.
3. Consistency should be a priority in graphic design
4. Web pages should be marked up so that text will be downloaded before the graphics. In this way, the users will know immediately if the page has the information that they are looking for, and if not, they will be able to save precious waiting time knowing that they do not need that certain page.
5. The loading of graphics should be controlled as such that loading will commence from top to bottom, and the users scrolling down the page will encounter said graphics.
6. The downloading of pages should be fast in order to save users waiting time, and in order to reduce the chances that they will get frustrated that they will abandon plans to download. Here are several ways to achieve fast download periods:
   
   -Keep the physical size of the graphics to a minimum
   -Images should be combined in order to minimize the number of server connections. Remember, the more connections that exists, the slower the download time will be
   -Decrease image resolution
   -Limit the colors that will be used for the images
   -Limit the use of animation

Animation is very much a part of web graphic design. The primary difference between web text and graphics and contents that are print-based is the dynamics. Moving displays attract the attention of users as long as the frequency of the display is regulated. Too much animation display can irritate and distract users. An animation that is perpetually moving can destroy the readable quality of the web page.

The usage of blinking texts should be avoided. It has long been regarded as an overused feature and the latest browsers no longer support it.

In designing a web site, there always exists a conflict between the desire to have total control over the appearance of a page and the need to permit users to establish their own preferences. The general appearance of the page should be made by the designer, but there are certain elements that users should have control over, such as color and text background, and the option whether to display graphics or not.

It takes a considerable amount of effort to establish and maintain the attractiveness and efficiency of a web site. If the guidelines above will be followed, all the efforts of web designers will bear desirable results. They only have to remember that the benefit of the users will always be the basis for everything.

Source :http://www.articleblotter.com/

5 Shades Hosting is a successful web hosting provider that has been providing website design and affordable web hosting services for individuals and businesses for almost a decade now. Dollar-for-dollar, feature-for-feature, you'll find the best web hosting plans right here plus a full Money Back Guarantee.

If A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, Than An Animation Is Worth A Settlement!

Courtroom re-enactment though forensic animation can be a very effective tool in persuading a jury to decide in your client’s favor. Technology is enhancing civil and criminal litigation, mediations, arbitrations and case depositions in a rapid manner. One study by the National Center for State Courts has determined that 82 percent of trials using 3D modeling as demonstrative evidence have led to victory.

How jurors perceive a witness, speaks directly to their opinion of the witness’s character. One study by the ACTA Press stated, “A well designed animation can influence a jurors' interpretation of the participant's activities in terms of perceived aggression, curiosity, jealousy, fear, provocation, relationships, roles and responsibilities, and guilt and innocence.” Jurors will become more emotionally connected in the animation as motion, texture, and lighting are rendered in more sophisticated ways.

How Animation can be used:
The development of computer forensic animation prior to deposition will highlight where information and collaboration is required, helping focus questions while eliciting complete information. By displaying 3D modeling during question and answer sessions by asking, "Is this what happened?" Animation will make the facts clearer to the jury. Computer animation helps juries understand in tangible terms what might otherwise remain an abstract concept. Computer forensics and 3D modeling has been proven to be better than any other type of demonstrative evidence according to a United States District Court Judge.

"I have noticed repeatedly that when a document is displayed on the monitors, the jurors sit up and pay attention. Such attention is far greater than that given to a document or situation which they cannot see as it is being discussed by the attorney and the witness."

"As long as technology is beneficial in helping jurors understand the facts and, more importantly, in expediting the trial, few judges will oppose it."

United States District Judge Carl Rubin

Examples of use:

Imagine for a moment a lawyer asking a witness, “If the truck was traveling at 50 miles per hour, and hit the side of the building in this spot, what would happen to the truck?" Working with the right 3D animator, the incident can be re-enacted with the true physics of force, surface texture and speed applied to get an enhanced image of the circumstances.

Demonstrating the intricate details of an accident scene, whether portraying a medical procedure or forensic mechanism of injury, there are virtually no limitations to what can be visualized using computer animation coupled with scientific and statistical evidence.

• A vehicle traveling at X miles per hour vs. Y miles per hour
• If a truck had veered ten feet sooner
• If a vat of chemicals had been placed here vs. there
• If the train operator had really seen or heard the signal
• If the substance was indeed harmless

Recently their was a trial where the plaintiff charged an architect with improperly designing a bridge. The defendant hired a graphic animation designer who took the blueprints, created a sketch drawing and built the bridge with the computer. Then, with the assistance of an engineer, the animator found that the bridge was designed properly. In fact, there had been an accident concerning a car colliding with a support column, which was not reported to the authorities until after the suit began. The animator then re-created the truck accident to show the damage to the bridge and its lingering effects.

Why Use Forensic Animation:

3D computer animations and images remain imbedded in the mind of the viewer long after they are offered as demonstrative evidence. Accidents, models, science or medial scenes, etc. are recreated to scale, through the use of computer animation, from expert or police reports. These animations are both visually presented to the jury. Statistics have shown people in general are much more likely to retain visual information that auditory information such as witness testimony.

A cardinal rule of persuasion or debate is to always show, rather than tell someone what happened. By showing the jury your client’s perspective, while the opposing side tells their client’s perspective, the jury is much more likely to identify and believe the visual presentation, all things being equal. As the old adage goes: a picture is worth a thousand words, and I would submit if a picture is worth a thousand words, than an animation is worth a settlement!

This Article was written by Micahel Goldstein, ESQ. for Courtroom Tools, a Forensic Animation and litigation technology Company in Massachusetts.

Source : http://www.articledashboard.com/

The Benefits of Stock Animation

Does your company need help with an animation project? Stock animation can help. Stock animation is used primarily on the web and on TV. They are used to present information, to entertain and to keep the viewer interested in what is happening. They are used across many industries from news organizations to engineering firms. Because of the great need for animations many companies have begun to sell stock animation to help streamline the creative process.

Most animation projects are time intensive and require a lot of creative thought and energy. Stock animation help reduce the time, thought and energy that is needed for a project. Stock animation is often used as a starting place for the animator. The animator will then build on the animation to get the desired result. Stock animation is also used as a background for other creative elements. Suppose that you want to make your own DVD. Do you have the skills to make a quality animation for the background? If not you could use a stock animation to help make your DVD look like it was professionally done. Stock animations can be used as backgrounds to make on screen text more interesting. News companies use this all of the time to make plain text more interesting.

Formats

Stock animation comes in several different formats. Each format is suited for a different purpose.

Animated Gifs

Gif stands for graphics interchange format. These are the small and often annoying animations that you see on web pages. You can find thousands of stock animations in this format for free download on the internet. The quality of these animations is usually very poor as they were designed to be compact for use on the internet. Generally you should stay away from this type of animation, except for a very few cases, as they often annoy the user.

Flash animation

Flash animation is the most versatile of all the formats as they can easily be converted for use on TV or DVD. Flash uses vector graphics which means it stores most of the information about the animation as a mathematical formula instead of pixel by pixel, frame by frame. This is useful because it can be scaled easily to fit any size that is needed. Stock animation for Flash is harder to find and will usually cost money. However, they can save a lot of time.

Composite animation

Composite animations are created by combining several different animated elements together to create the finished product. These animations tend to be very high quality and very visually appealing. They are often used for TV because of their high quality. You will almost always pay a premium price for these animations. But, you will get what you paid for. Composite stock animation can give your project a very professional and creative look very quickly.

Each stock animation format has its use. The type of project will determine the best type of stock animation. If used wisely, stock animation will save time and energy. Stock animation will also give your projects the professional look that you want.

Justin Grover- 10xMarketing � More Visitors �More Buyers �More Revenue, if you would like to find quality stock animation for Flash please visit Cartoon Solutions.

Source: http://www.articlealley.com

Design Considerations For Animated Web Sites

Web sites with animation, sound, video, and other enhancements can be interesting and promote user interactivity. However, websites with all the bells and whistles can also take too long to download and discourages users. Fortunatley, a wealth of techniques and options are available to help keep download time to a minimum.

-Bandwidth, which is the transfer rate of data to the user's browser, has hindered the development of websites with multiple media effects and enhancements.

-Many techniques and options are available to help keep website graphics and animation download time to a minimum and include use of tables, colour reduction and optimization of graphics, use of thumbnails, reuse of images, optimal placements of scripts, and selection offast loading type of web browsers such as Firefox.

-Several online web software tools are available to perform various tests on your web sites, such as web site garage, sitescan survey, pehtoori (html validation service), link alarm, and site inspector.

Bandwidth Issues

It was not long ago that the norm was the 56K modem. Today, many users (appr 55%) still use the 56K modems for surfing, so bandwidth must still be a concern to website designers. However, with technological advances such as fast cable modems, TI lines, etc, bandwidth will become less of a concern in the future. However, today you must still design websites with bandwidth in mind.

Many techniques and options are available to help keep website graphics and animation download times to a minimum. The following tips will help you create web pages that load as quickly as possible:

Use tables for putting graphics together to reduce the size of a gif animation. Depending on what your animation is like, tables can help reduce its overall file size. For example, you may have an image you want to animate, but only a small part of the image will actually be the animation. You can manually cut up the image into different pieces using a program like photoshop, or automatically, using a special utility like Ulead SmartSaver Pro. If you use photoshop, you must put the resulting graphics back together in your html editor using table cells. Programs like SmartSaver creat the html file with the graphics already in the table cells. By slicing up your image into sections, the samll part of the image that animates will now be in a table cell by itself. The rest of the image in the other table cells does not become part of tthe actual animation itself, thus reducing file size.

Reduce the colour palette of your gif animation. You can greatly reduce the size of your gif animation by reducing the number of colours in its colour palette. For example, if you have a 256 colour image and decrease its colour's to 64, the size of the animation will be significantly smaller. However, too much colour reduction may have an effect on image quality. Obviously, some complexities exist for animated gif creation. Fortunatley, several software options are available that help with palette and overall gif animation optimization, such as Equilibrium's Debabilizer, Digital Frontier's HVC ColorGif, Ulead's gif animator, as well as online gif optimizing services, such as gif wizard, and gif cruncher.

Reuse images throughout a website. Reusing images, if possible, is another way to decrease download time since the browser downloads and places the images in the pc's cache. For example, if you use an image on your home page and then use the same images on four other pages of the website, the image has to download just once. Thus, download time is kept to a minimum since one image downloads instead of five separate images.

Specify Height and Width in your html code for your animated gif images. You should always specify height and width in your html code for your animated gif images. If you do not specify height and width in your html code, then the browser will wait for the graphic to load before loading the text. You should also be aware that setting the height and width in your html code to a size smaller than the graphic will not reduce download time since the image's file size will remain the same as it was before.

Specify a low-res image to display as a high res image loads. You can create a low -res variation of a jpg or gif image to appear while waiting for the high res image to finish downloading. When you do this, the page appears to load much faster to the user. In reality, the extra image actually adds to the total download time. To add a low-res variation, you simply add an attribute to the image tag like the following:

IMG src="image-high-res.gif" lowsrc="image-low-res.gif"

Be sure to use jpgs for colourful photographic images. While you could compress your photographic images as gif images, jpeg compresses colourful images with generally better results, since jpg images offer 24 bit colour compared to gif images' 256 colours.

Substitute thumbnails for larger images on a webpage.

Use interlaced jpg and gif images. You can save your images as interlaced jpg and gif images that will display a preview of the images as they load.

M Adley is webmaster a resource for beginner to intermediate web designers and 3D artists. www.your3dsource.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Adley/