Create a new page from the template in Chapter 1. Define your map object like this, passing panMethod and panDuration properties:

map = new OpenLayers.Map('map_element', {
  panMethod: OpenLayers.Easing.Quad.easeInOut,
  panDuration: 100
});

Pan the map by clicking on one of the arrows in the control on the top left. In Firebug, call the following panTo function to pan the map to pass in a coordinate:

map.panTo(new OpenLayers.LonLat(-18,42);)

You should see an animation when panning the map.