/* set the opacity of the element (between 0.0 and 1.0) */
function setOpacity(id_element, level) {
    level=level.toFixed(2);
    var element = document.getElementById(id_element);
    element.style.opacity = level;
    element.style.MozOpacity = level;
    element.style.KhtmlOpacity = level;
    //alert(level);
    element.style.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + (level * 100) + ");";
}

var duration = 1000;  /* 1000 millisecond fade = 1 sec */
var steps = 0.05;       /* number of opacity intervals   */
var delay = 5000;     /* 5 sec delay before fading out */

function fadeIn(id_element){
  for (i = 0; i <= 0.94; i += steps) {
    setTimeout("setOpacity('" + id_element + "'," + i + ")", i* duration);
  }
//setTimeout("fadeOut('" + id_element + "')", delay);
}

function fadeOut(id_element) {
  for (i = 0.09; i <= 1; i += steps) {
    setTimeout("setOpacity('" + id_element + "'," + (1-i) + ")", i * duration);
  }
//setTimeout("fadeIn('" + id_element + "')", duration);
}