function slider_init() {

   //Speed of the slideshow
   var speed = 5000;
   
   //You have to specify width and height in #slider CSS properties
   //After that, the following script will set the width and height accordingly
   $('#mask-gallery, #gallery li').width($('#slider').width());   
   $('#gallery').width($('#slider').width() * $('#gallery li').length);
   $('#mask-gallery, #gallery li, #mask-excerpt, #excerpt li').height($('#slider').height());
   
   //Assign a timer, so it will run periodically
   var run = setInterval('newsscoller(0)', speed); 
   
   $('#gallery li:first, #excerpt li:first').addClass('selected');
}

function newsscoller(prev) {

   //Get the current selected item (with selected class), if none was found, get the first item
   var current_image = $('#gallery li.selected').length ? $('#gallery li.selected') : $('#gallery li:first');
   var current_excerpt = $('#excerpt li.selected').length ? $('#excerpt li.selected') : $('#excerpt li:first');

   //if prev is set to 1 (previous item)
   if (prev) {
      
      //Get previous sibling
      var next_image = (current_image.prev().length) ? current_image.prev() : $('#gallery li:last');
      var next_excerpt = (current_excerpt.prev().length) ? current_excerpt.prev() : $('#excerpt li:last');
   
   //if prev is set to 0 (next item)
   } else {
      
      //Get next sibling
      var next_image = (current_image.next().length) ? current_image.next() : $('#gallery li:first');
      var next_excerpt = (current_excerpt.next().length) ? current_excerpt.next() : $('#excerpt li:first');
   }

   //clear the selected class
   $('#excerpt li, #gallery li').removeClass('selected');
   
   //reassign the selected class to current items
   next_image.addClass('selected');
   next_excerpt.addClass('selected');

   //Scroll the items
   $('#mask-gallery').scrollTo(next_image, 800);      
   $('#mask-excerpt').scrollTo(next_excerpt, 800);             
   
}