On: Time.gif

[nicc]

This is absolutely awesome.

I wonder if this can be used to stream regular GIFs, so that you don't have to wait for the whole thing to load before seeing the animation.

I'm currently working on a project focusing on GIFs (https://www.gifsonic.com), I'll definitely study this to see if it's possible.

[bentpins → nicc]

That is how my browser behaves normally in Chrome at least. Progressive loading of normal .gifs, playing frames as they are available

[pbhjpbhj → bentpins]

Same for me FF54 on Kubuntu.

Sometimes it gets stuck and doesn't show the whole gif but I just assume that's my/the website's connection.

[nicc → bentpins]

Sure, but the animation sucks. Extremely choppy and slowed down.

I wonder if this technique can optimize preloading.

For instance, we could send out only 1/2 of the frames (of course, with twice the delay to keep the same animation speed), then load the rest as it's available.

I have no idea what I'm talking about yet, but there seem to be something here.

[soneca → nicc]

I would prefer, as UX, that it would follow this order:

- First load first frame on lowres (may be so lo that is blurred)

- Then add a small rotating loading icon on top of image, possibly with a notation that is a GIF

- Then load first frame completely at correct resolution

- Then load all the other frames in the background, only showing me the first frame still

- When all frames are completely loaded, remove loading rotating icon and run the GIF normally.

[nicc → soneca]

Awesome suggestions. I'll try to see if it's possible.

[mnutt → nicc]

It seems like this is the same as with video, where the client is trying to determine how many frames it needs to precache before it starts displaying. I'm not sure how much measurement capacity the server has, here?