=== Plugin Name ===
Contributors: acumensystems
Donate link: http://www.acumendevelopment.net
Tags: banners, jquery, animation
Requires at least: 3.0
Tested up to: 3.0
Stable tag: trunk

Widget and shortcode providing user-managed animated, captioned banners.

== Description ==

The Animated Banners plugin was developed by [Acumen](http://www.acumendevelopment.net/ "Acumen Development")
in order to provide an easy way to generate sharp, eye-catching banner animations based on arbitrary HTML.

Once the plugin is installed, you will have a new Admin menu called Banners, and also a new Widget shown in the Appearance > Widgets admin area, 
which you'll be able to drag into sidebars or include on your pages and posts as shortcodes. The banners themselves are created using the Banners 
area that will appear near posts and pages in the main Wordpress admin menu.

We use the term Banners to describe any HTML element with animated captions overlaid. We aim to develop and build
the animation options, allowing the user to manage jQuery-managed animations within the Wordpress admin areas, allowing banners
to technically be accessible, degradable, and ultimately internationalised using i18n .po files.

**Note: Requires Wordpress 3.0 - available in Subversion**

== Installation ==

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

1. Upload the plugin to it's own directory within `/wp-content/plugins/`
1. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
1. Set up a new banner under Banners in the main menu
1. Add content to the banner - i.e. an image
1. Add either a widget or a shortcode
 * Widget are added in Appearance > Widgets
 * Shortcodes can be added as `[banner name="My Banner"]` to any of your pages/posts
1. Contact us with your feedback!

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= How do I add a banner? =

The first step in creating a banner is to go to Banners in the main menu, and 'Add Banner'. Add your HTML banner content (typically just an image).
Use the captions area on the right hand side to add captions (captions can also be managed via Banners>Captions in the Wordpress Admin menu).

= How do I use the Selector option =

The `selector` is the path to the element you want to overlay your banner captions onto. This is handled by jQuery and so should be provided in their 
format. The default selector is simply `img` meaning that captions should apply to an image within the banner.

= Can I control the animations in more detail? =

At present, we have only designed the basic caption-with-mask animations. However, we would like to produce a full set of animations, and will be
including these as they are required, and/or submitted to us. If you have a specific need, please get in touch to see if we can create that option
for you!

== Screenshots ==

*Warning: sarcastic pictures follow.*

1. The new Banners menu in the Wordpress Control Panel
1. Creating a banner, and allocating a caption
1. Banner Animation Options
1. Inserting the `[banner]` shortcode into a page to display the banner
1. Widget Inclusion Options
1. Image based banner output example
1. HTML element based banner output example

== Changelog ==

= 0.2 =
* Animation options as part of each banner

= 0.1 =
* Initial release - very early prototype awaiting community feedback