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Well gifs still have two main use-cases: - with the rise of AJAX a gif is basically the default format for the animated "loading" spinners - crappy low-res in
by retube 15y ago
Well gifs still have two main use-cases:
- with the rise of AJAX a gif is basically the default format for the animated "loading" spinners
- crappy low-res instant versions of youtube videos
Is there an alternative format?
- wladimir 15y ago(1) is indeed a use-case, unless you require more detailed control over playback/pause/frame numbers. In which case a series of png images (for example, encoded into a .css) and animated using javascript could be used. Google uses this for their doodles. I think (2) is not really a good use-case. GIF is a terrible, terrible format for movies because of the crappy quality and inefficient interframe encoding. Just use a movie format, they're also good at low-res low-bitstream.
- AndrewDucker 15y agoUsing a movie format means that you either have to provide multiple versions for different browsers or you have to use Flash. For a four-second clip of a man being hit in the face with a cat I'm not sure either of those is worthwhile.
- wlievens 15y agoI'd think CSS sprited PNGs are much preferred over anigif, not just because of playback control but also because of non-shitty translucency.
- satori99 15y ago(2) is used alot by porn sites (So i hear). Mouse hovers show an animated GIF representation of the 'film' as a preview.
- icebraining 15y agoThere are decent (and scalable!) spinners in CSS, but it's not an alternative since not every browser supports them.
- ahrjay 15y agoFirefox and Opera support the APNG format and there is a clever polyfill[1] to add support to all other browsers. [1] https://github.com/devongovett/png.js https://github.com/devongovett/png.js
- flomo 15y agoBeyond AJAX spinners, there's still plenty of use cases for simple & easily embedable animations. Smilies, forum avatars, icons, etc.