Animated GIFs can have up to 256 colors & they are not interactive.

jAni is a lightweight jQuery plugin for animating background images which can be an alternative to animated GIFs (in some cases).

It simply changes the position of a long background image in given distances & speed.

The plugin has few options for controlling it:

• start, stop, pause
• speed
• loop on/off
• dimensions of the frames

As it will require JavaScript to be enabled, using jAni combined with other JavaScript events (like animating a better-quality Ajax loader) would be very functional.

If you have an ajax application and want it to rock, then you need a good looking ajax loader.

Ajax loaders are generaly simple animated gifs. Some popular types of loaders include Circle Ball, Kit, Indicator or the bar.

Ajaxload.info makes it easy to create more than 25 types of ajaxloaders with any color and speed you want.