Some notes on terminology used in this help document.
A frame is a
single image in an animation. An ordinary bitmap image becomes a frame once it
is inserted into an animation.
An animation refers to
the collection of frames, complete with all related timing and color
instructions. A GIF animation defines a screen size which is the rectangle in
which the animation is visible. Individual frames are clipped to this screen.
A frame's delay is the amount of time that the
animation pauses after displaying the frame and before displaying the next
frame; the delay is the primary method of controlling the flow of the
animation.
A palette is a collection of colors that is used to define a frame. GIF animations can contain two different kinds of palettes: a global palette that applies to all the frames in an animation and a local palette that controls the colors of a single frame. The GIF format
definition limits palettes to 256 colors.