Animation

Animation is, in essence, an optical illusion in the simplest sense.
It's a technique to fool the eye into thinking that static images are in motion. The use of multi color and/ or the effect of motion captures the eye and leads it to focus on the message presented in the animation.

There are many different types of animation from traditional cell animation to 3D animation. Most animation used directly on the internet is done in the following formats:

• Flash - Adobe Flash, previously Macromedia Flash, is a program that uses digital and non-linear aspects of traditional cell animation techniques along with vector based graphics which can be resized without losing definition. It also supports a wide array of other media types. It is specifically intended to deliver media rich designs within a limited amount of allotted space, which makes it ideal for websites. It is programmable by using Actionscript coding language.
• Director - Adobe Director, previously Macromedia Director, is a program similar to Flash, but its intended uses differ in that it is better suited to projects that have a larger capacity for space, complex coding, and require more interactivity. Director uses its own programming language called Lingo. It works well for stand-alone kiosks, CD/DVD/ROM distributions, and 3D game development.
• Animated Gif - This is the simplest animation that will be found on the web. It is comprised of several frames, each different, played in a sequence. Animated gifts are not programmable.

However, the delivery method of the animation is also something to keep in mind when designing animation for use on the web.
The delivery method can consist of a file type that has a type of animation embedded in it. For example, a website that features a Quicktime video clip of a 3D animation. In this case the animation was converted to a video based file format before being added to the website.