Flash (not Dreamweaver) is the app if you need to create complex animated files, but you can do fairly effective animated gifs from Imageready (which comes with Photoshop).
Just a personal observation: for every one good "feeling" web animation there are 99 poor ones and 900 offensive ones.
Cutesy movement tricks are perhaps ok on a personal site designed to showcase cutesy movement. However, most folks go to professional sites seeking information. IMO most of the time cutesy movement tricks obfuscate the communication of information.
We all know a few great movement sites. Very few. Thousands of sites with movement done poorly.
Rollovers are another story. They normally work well and help communicate.
That is nice. And appropriate, because it is communicating what the site does: "We are in this business and see how well we do it." What I dislike is the too-typical addition of animation just because it is possible.
What I dislike is the too-typical addition of animation just because it is possible.
The addition of anything just because it is possible is, in my opinion, what has brought about a deplorable deterioration in design standards after computer technology became accessible to the masses. It applies to many other fields, for instance using a fish-eye lens just because the user happens to have one, or distorting type just because you can do it, etc.
Very often I just can’t believe what I see on book and magazine covers, ads, posters, etc.
Allen, I agree with you but the question that r. shefer posted was, is motion possible with Photoshop or did he/she need Flash. He/she wasn’t asking if it’s was appropriate or not. So to answer his/her question, you’ll need Flash to create something like 2advanced.com with that type of motion. Qucktime can also be used for motion, but not in the same way as the 2advanced.com site. You can use Photoshop to create elements of the motion graphic. Final Cut, Shake, and Motion(not yet released) on the Mac side; Premiere and After Effects on the Windows side. Avid on either but that’s a matter of personal choice. Plus a multitude of other programs. Motion graphics is being taught at a school close to me, part of the program is learning AutoCAD among other things like Maya and 3D Studio Max.
Also, r. shefer doesn’t say whether the site is professional or just personal. Maybe it’s a personal site and he/she just wants to experiment with new techniques, I don’t know. I’m not trying to argue, I’m just pointing out that everyone else is talking animated graphics when r. has clearly asked about motion/video type graphics. 2 different things.
Pierre: I forgot that… you are right. So glad you brought it up.
R: If you want motion graphics then you probably do want Flash. You can start in Illustrator but will have to end with Flash. Flash has a steep learning curve though.
r., At least part of the site is Flash, could be all of it. they could have designed parts in Flash and then assembled the rest in GoLive or Dreamweaver. I dunno.
If you’re trying to demonstrate capabilities, I’d have to recommend learning Flash. Otherwise you may spend a lot of time explaining or apologizing to potential customers that you don’t know Flash. It’s not that Flash is necessarily the best or only way to accomplish the goals of this specific job, but that Flash is probably the most requested method for animated Web graphics.
I expect others to have different (Adobe-centric) recommendations, but that would be my 2¢.
