I hate elements, and I can't really help you with banners either. But do you know how to use all the basic stuff like layers, filters and la yer properties? I've really got to know how much you know in order to help at all.
I say this best way to learn how to use anything is just to play with it. I don't really know how to use elements, I actually hate it, it's sorta out of my comfort zone when it comes to it's interface and stuff. I played with all the tools for a bit and I picked up photoshop in a bit. So just play with it and you'll figure out something eventually.
Okay, thanks :) I played with it a bit before, and didn't really like it, but we'll see. Also, a friend said that she has a really good phototshop where you can make pictures into animation, ect. and said I could borrow the disk, soooo :)
Anything that's CS2 or over (or Imageready 7.0 or over) can allow you to do animations. But if you really want to do animations, you should really get flash, it's made for animations and is way easier to animate with that PS.