animation on container

Hi,

I am trying something interesting - but it may not be possible at the moment.
I have a container which houses three containers.
maintcontainer{container1,container2,container3}
Look like so.
Attachment 1329

In the ready event (also tried in resize) I increase the size of the main container by 3.
Leaving me a single visible container.
Like so.
Attachment 1330

If I set the maincontainer.left = maincontainer.left-250. I get the desired affect. All three containers shift (slide) to the left.
Like so.
Attachment 1331

However, If I try to do the same thing using maincontainer.animate(), the screen flickers and then all the containers are returned to their original positions.

In this type of case, am I better off using a timer, or am I missing something simple?

Thanks.

Herb