course croydon dream weaver - Moving Graphics

Hi Sarah,

There are a number of ways.

Most of the sites you see today that have moving graphics on their home page use Adobe Flash. You would need to use Adobe Flash to generate a .SWF file, which can then be inserted on to your home page.

Some other ways are:

- use animated GIF files. This would require Jasc Animation shop, or a similar type of program. The .gif file contains several frames of animation, with each frame being different, and it looks like the image is moving - much like a movie.

- insert a movie file such as AVI, QT or MPG. This requires video editing software, some applications are free or come pre-installed on some computers.

- use layers (absolutely positioned elements) and timelines to move static images (IMG tag) around on the screen. Dreamweaver can do this: go to Windows -> Timelines.

For the most professional look, I'd recommend Flash. Pros are it usually takes up the least file size (quicker for your users to download), can contain vector graphics which resize well, can play sound, and looks slick. One con is that people must have flash player installed to view (but most browsers do have it installed by default).

Keep your animation to a minimum, you don't want to annoy your visitors!

Hope this helps.

Regards, Rich