Re:avoiding flash

You can do all sorts of eyecandy with JS if you code for IE... they have these cool things called Filters

I think you can mess about with filters in the CSS creator in DWMX, not sure, but I code my own...

Anyway - as to the time swap you can use the window.setTimeuut() method for force a reload with an different image...

The only thing I'll add is do a google for the tutorials, they ARE out there

MX is like a box of chocolates - Someone's usually eaten the good bits already!