I was on a bit of a crusade these last few days and one that took far longer than I had hoped. Flash animations available online can be spectacular, full of interest or completely basic to the core lacking any imagination, however finally I came across this great website featuring some of the best and exactly what I was looking for.

FlashDen features flash, audio, video and even fonts for enhancing your creative juices. It is the flash section though that has really caught my eye. There are many flavours available including XML news and article banners (tickers), MP3 players, interactive image and photo galleries, portfolio viewers, clocks, preloaders, menus and even flash based shops.

I needed a flash based featured articles viewer that would rotate automatically and feature about 4-5 items at a time. I then stumbled upon ‘Article / News XML Banner’, which featured all what I needed and was even adjustable. Now flash editing isn’t one of my strong points, but after contacting the author, he kindly provided instructions and a friend made the necessary alterations.

Since the re-launch of my website, I was more than just a little concerned that all the visitors that came through Google or RSS feeds, would read one post and then disappear in a blink of an eye. I am writing quite a few posts each week now and of course some are more important than others. Now I can highlight the more tantalising articles in the hope they will view what is featured and maybe click one of the items that interests them.