GIF animations can be used as eye catchers, backgrounds,animated rollover navigation buttons or communication devices on a web page.
There are at least 3 methods that can be used.
Only a GIF image can be animated (as well as FLASH and VIDEO).

Before you can do anything you have to open the ANIMATION Palette in CS
Window > Animation

(use the fly out in the lower right to switch between the FRAMES and TIMELINE modes you want FRAMES)


Remember > there are 3 methods of working with your animation/video >>>

1)   Frames - you can convert layers to frames  (see video below for importing animated GIFS)

 - to use a stack of layers in frames mode click, the upper right fly out and click  
MAKE FRAMES FROM LAYERS

ANIMATION PALETTE in FRAMES view Window > animation

- remember to
>> set the Loop preference ONCE Twice or FOREVER (caution: that is a long time :~)
>> set the frame delay (to determine FPS .. frames per second)

then ........
SAVE for Web and Devices >> GIF

after you have saved the animated GIF!
How to Open (IMPORT) an animated GIF into Photo Shop
its not as simple just opening any file because it is made of multiple files
note: its like opening a video

1) Choose File » Import » Video Frames to Layers (you might not see the file until the next step)

2) In the file browser (in Windows) , type *.* ( star dot star) in the File Name box and press Enter or click Load

3) When you type in *.* it will show you all files without restrictions

4) Select and Open your animated GIF file, it will show you a dialog box regarding the imports. Press OK to import .

Voila! The file is opened in animation frames( WIndow >Animation). You can view the animation frames from Windows » Animation

This seems a little tedious and we have no idea why Adobe did this but......
...........................................Your knowledge is Your power............................................

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2) ANOTHER WAY TO ANIMATE GIFS is to TWEEN images that is let Photo Shop TWEEN images that form a type of visual gradient beTWEEN 2 frames

When saving for Web and Devices you might want to add a white Matt before saving

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3) Animation in Timeline view CS
(similar to video editing)

- you use key frames (time markers) to animate LAYER PROPERTIES such as position, opacity, and styles etc. at different points in time defined by key frames

Timeline animation creation is much like video editing and uses key frames to
animate LAYER properties

One issue with this method is that the frame rate is 30 FPS (video) and results in very large file sizes