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The two most common approaches are animated gifs and Flash.

Animated gifs are made by compiling a series of separate images in a set sequence, much like traditionally animated cartoons.

The good news is that they function on any browser that displays images.

The bad newsis that animated gifs can be slow-loading, they don't include sound and an individual gif can only be linked to multiple URLs by image-mapping.

The caveat here is that by adding several images together, the cumulative load-time grows. The physically largest (height and width) image in the series determines the dimensions of the total package. As for quality; the more frames in the animation, the smoother the effect. Of course, both these factors increase the size (in bytes) of the final product, resulting in commensurate increases in load times.

Tip: Make sure that the first image in the series contains the primary message to be conveyed, so that if a visitor has turned off the animation option on the browser, your message will still get through.

Adobe's Flash is a vector-based software program that produces smooth, seamless animations that can include photographs, sound and real interactivity. Even with sound incorporated, the load time is minimal, and internal elements can be linked to multiple URLs. It is an amazing, interactive and fast-loading technology.