The Images

• An animated GIF is just a string of images put together into one file that plays when the user accesses the page. The first part of creating an animated icon is having a selection of images. These can be images from a digital camera or drawings created in graphics programs like Photoshop. Save these files in a directory somewhere on the computer. It is better to keep the images together and organized in a folder, so they can be easily ordered when put together.
  
  

Creating the GIF

• Some desktop applications that create animated GIFs, but MakeAGif is a website online that allows the user to make an animation give without installing any type of software or paying for expensive applications (see link in References). MakeAGIF.com allows the user to upload each image one-by-one in the order in which they are supposed to animate.
  
  Other settings are needed to make an animated GIF, like speed of the animation and if the file needs to loop. "Looping" means the animation repeats when it reaches the end of the images. Most animated GIF files loop the animation. The speed of the animation is set in milliseconds, so when the user creates a frame animation time of 200, each frame is shown for 200 milliseconds before the following image is shown.
  
  Once the images are uploaded and the settings are programmed, click the "Create GIF" button. The online application puts the images together and gives the user a file to download. This file can be used in applications like AIM, inserted into web pages or used as an avatar on forums.