I invite you to take a look at http://www.accrol.co.uk .

I asked the people who designed this site how they got the different effects and they pointed me to WOW slider. But I didn't ask about the image fading or how they got the screen behind the image being shown to become darkened.

I know I can download the slider but do instruction come with it?
Do I need to know all the coding languages html, php java et al?

Please speak slowly - this is the result of giving computers to geriatrics!

Come on there is no age limit, You are as old as you feel or felt or how the saying goes.

I have not tried that script but I would think it to be a Jquery one where you upload your images to a set folder. You copy the body and header script into the html box in VSD and give it a go.

You cannot break anything and something you nut out for yourself gives much more satisfaction that just following instructions.

I would imagine there are instructions that do come with the script as to how to adjust the effects.

WOW Slider has instructions on their website. They are step by step and pretty good.

You have the ability to control several aspects of the slide show, including the transition between slides, different templates, timing, etc. Code is generated for a variety of purposes, including placing the show on your webpage.

>>> http://wowslider.com/index.html#help
Their instructions seem pretty easy. If you go down to #5, you'll see they give you an option to copy/paste some code into your page. In VSD, use the HTML Tool – Click on it and under "body" paste the code. Adjust the height/width to match the size of your slideshow in the Object Properties box (click on the HTML placeholder box then click the Properties icon in the top menu). You can grab the HTML box and move it to where you want it on the page. Preview to make sure it's positioned just right, you might need to tweak it a bit.
I'm going to have a better look at their site... I might want to add this to my arsenal

Thanks Everyone! Great advice. I'm also looking at the nivo-slider 3.1 as an alternative.

RE: WOW Slider

There are no free upgrades, and the percentage offered as a discount to upgrade is negligible.

Buyer beware.

Just in the nick of time — CC added some new features to the photo album program (SDrive).
Glad I didn't get some other software already, the CC albums will work for me now