You're looking for software it seems.
I would recommend "Adobe Image Ready" It has the best compression to quality ratio i have ever seen in a gif animator..(Meaning it won't turn out too starchy)...
You also have the option to put a timer on each individual frame, without changing the file size.
So long as you have the frames to feed whatever gif animation software you are using, it's pretty much all down hill, and easy to figure out.
It would also make things easier if each image file (jpeg or whatever format you're using) is named alphabetically in the order you want it to go frame by frame. names like a, aa, aaa, aaaa, aaaaa, aaaaaaa, b, bb, bbb, etc... is the way to get it done and over with quickly.
I hope this answers some of you're questions. If you're gonna get into it, post more.
And about that Image Ready program. It usually comes with Photoshop, alot of people don't even know they have it. It can be found in the start menu next to Photoshop as a seperate installation.