There are four general categories of multimedia objects:

 Video clips – are supported by such applications as RealOne Player, the Windows Media Player, or Apple’s QuickTime.
 Animations – can be generated by bit-map-based (paint) applications, such as Fireworks and Photoshop. These kinds of programs create GIF files consisting of several frames to produce an animation.
 Sounds – can come in many formats, but again you want to use them judiciously, because you can turn off your Web site visitors with them and even get them into trouble if they are visiting your Web page from the work place.
 Slide shows – are surprising useful for Web sites and can be created quite easily using PowerPoint or a free slide creation tool such as the presentation creation tool in OpenOffice.org’s office suite.

You can use animation in your Web site to call attention to something important. If your site sells designer mouse pads, for example, you could create an animated image of a designer mouse pad with a 3-d rotating effect and use it to promote a sale. Video is another form of animation.

FYI:
For more information on how to include multimedia in your Web pages, contact me through my Nairaland signature