Why I Won't Be Pronouncing GIF jif Anytime Soon
I started playing around on the Internet back in the early '90s before there was a fully formed World Wide Web. At that time, the GIF (Graphics Exchange Format) was the image of choice for many things. As the Web grew, so did the GIF. Soon, animation was added and you got things like animated "under construction" graphics and hamster dance. The GIF evolved.
But as the Web changed, the GIF slowly began to fall out of favor. Sure, you could animate it, but most legit Web sites didn't use that and went with more "modern" technologies like Flash. Soon, the PNG would all but replace the GIF in normal use throughout the Web for graphics on Web sites. Then, a resurgence. The animated GIF was back and stronger than ever thanks to software that easily allows conversion of video clips into the files. Now the ubiquitous graphics file litters Tumblr and blog posts. They are used to make people think and laugh, and replay sports highlights.![]()
And the creator of the GIF had to go and ruin it by telling the world it's actually pronounced "jif."
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