var duration = 1000; // fade duration in millisecond
var steps = 20;     // number of opacity intervals
var delay = 5000;   // 5 sec delay before fading out
var timeout = null;

function fadeIn(element) {

    window.clearTimeout(timeout);
    for (i = 0; i <= 1; i += (1 / steps))
    {
        timeout = window.setTimeout("setOpacity(" + i + ", '" + element + "')", i * duration);
    }
    ShowHide(element);
    //setTimeout("fadeOut()", delay);
}

function fadeOut(element) {

    window.clearTimeout(timeout);
    for (i = 0; i <= 1; i += (1 / steps))
    {
        timeout = window.setTimeout("setOpacity(" + (1 - i) + ", '" + element + "')", i * duration);
    }
    //setTimeout("fadeIn()", delay);
}

function fadeStop(){

    window.clearTimeout(timeout);
}

/* set the opacity of the element (between 0.0 and 1.0) */
function setOpacity(level, id) {
    var element = document.getElementById(id);
    element.style.opacity = level;
    element.style.MozOpacity = level;
    element.style.KhtmlOpacity = level;
    element.style.filter = "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(opacity=" + (level * 100) + ");";
    element.style.zoom = 1;
}




///////////////////////////////////////////////////