Icons can also be animated.
If you are building a business site or a site that earns revenue from page hits, you want to ensure that you get as many repeat visits as possible. One way to make the site appealing is to use animated icons for navigation buttons. You might have thought that you would need to hire an expert using a complex and expensive graphics program to do this for you. But by using the freeware graphics program Gimp, you can quickly create you own professional-looking icon animation.
Instructions
1. Decide what type of animated icon you want. For example, you might want to have a "Home" button for your page that moves back and forth to catch the eye (although the principles shown here can be used for any animated icon). Storyboard out how you want the animation to look before you start working in Gimp.
2. Open Gimp. Select "File" and click "New." In the dialog that pops up, make the pixel width and height what you want for your icon. Click on the "Advanced Options" and make the "Fill With" "Transparent." Click "OK."
3. Select the "Text" tool and choose the font style, size and color your want for your button. Then type in your text.
4. Click on the "Duplicate" icon under the "Layers" panel to make as many layers as you want frames in the animation. Then select the "Move" tool to move the word in each layer to form a line that runs from one side to the other side and then back again.
5. Select "File" and click "Save." In the dialog that pops up, name the file, choose GIF as the file type, and click "Save." In the dialog that follows, choose "Save as Animation" and click "Export." Choose the duration for the frames and set the "Disposal" to "Replace." Click "Save."
