Well, in the end I decided to go with a program that creates flash files. Why? Because the majority of the animated gif programs that I tested had horrible text and effects (maybe they wouldn't have looked so bad back in 1998, but they certainly are not up to par with the standards of today).
So I tried out a few programs that could create flash animations. It was pretty apparent from using 3-4 before the one that I am about to mention below that the highly publicized "easy to use" touting ad copy that most of these programs boasts aren't accurate.
So I installed and uninstalled one by one until I came upon one that I didn't [uninstall]. And that program is called KoolMoves - by far the simplest software that I have ever used with regard to graphics. I like to learn by using (as opposed to reading tutorials), and let me tell you, I was able to create a professional looking banner on my first attempt. You can also generate gif's from your flash files by saving and importing into graphic software such as Adobe ImageReady.
Easily worth the price, I tried for years to create animated gifs in ImageReady with little success. The banners that I've created in KoolMoves are above and beyond anything that I have ever created with ImageReady.
Give it a try if you'd like with the free trial at: http://www.koolmoves.com/
