[RESOLVED] Animated entry page

[tik33]

Hi everyone,

newbie here. I should say upfront that I have a very small grasp of HTML and none of Flash or anything else.

Basically, I have a website where the index page is an animated GIF (i.e a GIF in an empty page) (I didn't create it) with a link to the home page saying "enter site". I would like to change the site so that it plays the animation and then immediately takes you to the home page without people having to click to enter.

Does that make sense?

Can anyone tell me how I would do this?

thank you in advance for your help :)

[WebJoel]

The easist way to have a META redirect tag, before the "</head>", like this:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="6;url=http://domainName-dot-com/index2.html">

which 'redirect' (jumps to~) the 'next page in "6" seconds, in this case, named "http://domainName-dot-com/index2.html" and we'll assume that this is 'the next page'. -No clicking required! (Advise: put in some text to tell visitors that "you will be directed to the next page automatically in 6 seconds" or something like that, to let them know that NO action by them is required).

Do however, use the full-path to the page... prevents any possible problems that might occur.

[NogDog]

Better yet, unless there's a really good reason for making the user watch an animation, just get rid of it and let the user get right to the actual content of your site.

[jogol]

i´m with NogDog, sounds like 1997...

[felgall]

Those animated entry pages are the web equivalent of "No Entry" signs. They let the person know that they are wasting their time on that site and are better off continuing their search for better sites that don't have such a barrier across the front door.

[tik33]

Thanks for all your thoughts and thanks especially to webjoel - it worked really well! I adjusted the 6 though - because I'm well aware that people don't want to see a long period of nothing - so, hearing what all of you had to say, have reduced the animation to about 3 seconds - but since it is part of our message - I wanted to keep it in.

thanks again!

[WebJoel]

(with one foot on soapbox...) *I* don't care for 'splash pages' either, but the truly kind-at-heart whom must have them, will make them 1) interesting, 2) short, and esp. 3) -Give me an opt-out option ("Click here to skip splash page"). :o
It is what the client wants. I built a web site that required a 'splash page', -a JAVA applet that played a simulated beginning to STAR WARS (the star field, the text moving into the distant horizon, and of course, -the theme music).. and it comes with a "click here to enter site now" option. ;)