Animated GIFs | Dynamic HTML in Action

Animated GIFs are the most common type of multimedia found on the Web and are supported in all modern browsers. A single GIF graphic can contain many images and can present them in sequence, like a movie. Code Listing 17-6 demonstrates the use of an animated GIF.

Code Listing 17-6.

 <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Listing 17-6</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <IMG SRC="airplane.gif"><BR> This page demonstrates an animated GIF. </BODY> </HTML>

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Figure 17-7. A still shot of an animated GIF.

Note that the HTML is exactly the same if the GIF isn't animated. An <IMG> tag simply is given an SRC attribute. As long as this SRC attribute points to a graphic that is an animated GIF, the graphic will animate. The file airplane.gif is a sample file from Microsoft's GIF Animator. Creating an animated GIF requires a tool designed for such a task. Popular tools include the following:

Product	Available From	Notes
Alchemy Mind Works GIF Construction Set	mindworkshop.com/alchemy/alchemy.html	Very powerful, allows detailed control of file.
Microsoft GIF Animator	Part of Microsoft FrontPage and Image Composer. Version 1.0 is available from some shareware sites. Find out more at microsoft.com/imagecomposer/gifanimator/gifanin.htm	Simple to use, easy to apply palettes.
Right to Left Software Anamagic GIF	rtlsoft.com	Very good at optimizing a GIF for smallest size.
GIFBuilder	Available from many individual sites on the Web. Can be found through any major search engine.	Very popular tool available only for the Macintosh.
WWW Gif Animator	Shareware sites.	Highly rated, has an Internet Explorer_like interface.

NOTE
The Web is a dynamic place. As a result, some of the locations specified above might have changed by the time you read this. But there are many good sites for shareware and freeware files, including www.hotfiles.com, www.shareware.com, www.jumbo.com, www.tucows.com, and wuarchive.wustl.edu.

Many of these tools can also be used to create GIFs with transparent areas, which are used when overlaying images. In addition, many tools designed for other tasks can output animated GIFs, such as MacroMedia Flash.