function opacity(id, opacStart, opacEnd, millisec) {



    //	fade speed
    var speed = Math.round(millisec / 100);
    var timer = 0;

    // check fade direction
    if(opacStart > opacEnd) { // fade out
        
		for(i = opacStart; i >= opacEnd; i--) {
		
			
			setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + id + "')",(timer * speed));
			timer++;
		
		}
		
    } else if(opacStart < opacEnd) { // fade in
        for(i = opacStart; i <= opacEnd; i++) {
        
		  setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + id + "')",(timer * speed));
		  timer++;
        
		}
		
    }
}

function blendimage(divid, imageid, imagefile, millisec) { 
    var speed = Math.round(millisec / 100); 
    var timer = 0; 
     
    //set the current image as background 
    document.getElementById(divid).style.backgroundImage = "url(" + document.getElementById(imageid).src + ")"; 
     
    //make image transparent 
    changeOpac(0, imageid); 
     
    //make new image 
    document.getElementById(imageid).src = imagefile; 

    //fade in image 
    for(i = 0; i <= 100; i++) { 
        setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + imageid + "')",(timer * speed)); 
        timer++; 
    } 
}

function changeOpac(opacity, id) {
    var object = document.getElementById(id).style;
    object.opacity = (opacity / 100);
    object.MozOpacity = (opacity / 100);
    object.KhtmlOpacity = (opacity / 100);
    object.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + opacity + ")";
}