function opacity(id,opacStart,opacEnd,millisec)
    {
    //speed for each frame
    var speed = Math.round(millisec / 100);
    var timer = 0;

    //determine the direction for the blending, if start and end are the same nothing happens
    if(opacStart > opacEnd)
        {
        for(i = opacStart; i >= opacEnd; i--)
            {
            setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + id + "')",(timer * speed));
            timer++;
            }
        }
    else if(opacStart < opacEnd)
        {
        for(i = opacStart; i <= opacEnd; i++)
            {
            setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + id + "')",(timer * speed));
            timer++;
            }
        }
    }
//change the opacity for different browsers
function changeOpac(opacity,id)
	{
	var object = document.getElementById(id).style; 
	object.opacity = (opacity / 100);
	object.MozOpacity = ( (opacity / 100) - 0.01);
	object.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + opacity + ")";
    object.KhtmlOpacity = (opacity / 100);
	}

function shiftOpacity(id,millisec)
    {
    //if an element is invisible, make it visible, else make it ivisible
    if(document.getElementById(id).style.opacity == 0)
        {
        opacity(id, 0, 100, millisec);
        }
    else
        {
        opacity(id, 100, 0, millisec);
        }
    }

function blendimage(divid,imageid,imagefile,millisec) 
    { 
    var speed = Math.round(millisec / 100); 
    var timer = 0; 
     
    //set the current image as background 
    document.getElementById(divid).style.backgroundImage = "url(" + document.getElementById(imageid).src + ")"; 
     
    //make image transparent 
    changeOpac(0,imageid); 
     
    //make new image 
    document.getElementById(imageid).src = imagefile; 

    //fade in image 
    for(i = 0; i <= 100; i++) 
        { 
        setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + imageid + "')",(timer * speed)); 
        timer++; 
        } 
    } 

function blendimage(divid,imageid,imagefile,millisec)
    {
    var speed = Math.round(millisec / 100);
    var timer = 0;
    
    //set the current image as background
    document.getElementById(divid).style.backgroundImage = "url(" + document.getElementById(imageid).src + ")";
    
    //make image transparent
    changeOpac(0,imageid);
    
    //make new image
    document.getElementById(imageid).src = imagefile;

    //fade in image
    for(i = 0; i <= 100; i++)
        {
        setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + imageid + "')",(timer * speed));
        timer++;
        }
    }