Ever since its inception in the year 2006, Twitter hasn’t stopped surprising internet users. With each year marking the introduction of a brand new feature, Twitter has already become the number one choice of people who love online social networking and blogging. Amongst the vast pool of features supported by Twitter, the very recent one is the flexibility to view and share animated GIFs. Although animated GIFs have been supported on the site before, it required users to opt for third-party platforms. Considering users’ hassles in going through the third-party platforms, Twitter decided to host the animated GIFs on its own. As you read through this blog, you’ll get to know more about this latest addition to the suit of impressive add-ons available with Twitter.
What actually is an Animated GIF?
The term “Animated GIF” refers to an image that’s encoded in graphics interchange format(GIF). This is a file format that is basically developed for presenting image data for devices with slower internet connections such as a dial-up. GIF is the best fit for web images that need to be compressed to suit the needs of slow-loading websites. Animated GIFs are capable of storing information related to multiple images, followed by presenting them in a proper sequence to create an animated illusion.
Animated GIFs Support – Long-Awaited Introduction on Twitter
Animated GIFs have always been a beloved part of the internet and with its official launch on Twitter, it seems web users would definitely get a reason to celebrate. Unlike the earlier distraction caused due to automatic video streaming, Twitter’s integration with Animated GIFs means there will no longer be any negative impact on the performance of videos played on Twitter.
Twitter plans to roll out support to its API
As a social networking giant, Twitter is also planning to roll out GIF support to its API. In other words, now it would become possible for the third-party developers to offer animated GIF support to their client applications. As per a renowned Twitter developer’s blog, the company’s updated API will now support file formats including .png, .jpg and .gif formats in addition to animated GIFs that are up to three megabytes in size. To put in more simple words, the makers of Twitter apps will now be able to officially integrate direct GIF sharing via the same twitter links belonging to the native image uploads.
Twitter also adds animated GIF support for its Android and iPhone apps
In addition to rendering animated GIF support for its official website, Twitter has also rolled out the same for its Android and iPhone apps. After having updated its Android and iPhone apps after a very long time, Twitter has finally made it possible for its app users to share and view animated GIFs without the need for any software update.
Watching GIF in your Twitter Timeline is possible now
Now that GIFS have finally landed on Twitter, it has now become possible for the Twitter users to watch a GIF in their timeline simply by clicking the “Play” button that is displayed over the top. As per the recently introduced animated GIF support, Twitter has ensured that the GIFs don’t get animated automatically. The sole reason for this is to prevent the Twitter users from downloading larger files that are no longer required.
Twitter has been slow to get on-board
While a majority of social networking and blogging sites like Tumblr and Pinterest have already added support for animated GIFs, Twitter has been lazy in getting on board. Also, Twitter’s biggest competitor Facebook is still refusing to allow GIFs on its site. The company feels going ahead with the automated GIFs support will probably make their users’ News Feeds ugly and extremely boring.
A walk through advantages of Animated GIFs Support
By offering animated GIFs support, Twitter has actually made its appearance feel in the web world. The un-pixelated, high-quality nature of GIF images will allow the social networking site to become a hot favorite among socially-active population. GIFs support transparent background. So, instead of opting for a plain background you can choose the one that is 100% transparent and renders a unique feel to your website. What’s more, GIFs are the perfect tools for attracting the young audience. The relatively small file size of GIF images makes them the best fit for different types of websites. One of the major upsides of animated GIFs is that they are supported by all web browsers. On top of that, all GIF images load instantly without the need for installing a specific set of plug-ins.
Wrapping Up
Well, there’s no doubt that Twitter has made the right move by offering support for animated GIFs. This all-new feature will definitely encourage people to sign up for the social networking website and render them opportunity of exploring its amazing functionality to the fullest.
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Author Bio:
Sarah Parker is a WordPress developer cum blogger in Designs2HTML Ltd. She is one of those who loves to interact and use social platforms to enrich their reach in order to let the people get attire with new technologies. Her Convert PSD to WordPress related posts are very much viral in world wide web. Follow on Twitter to get updates of web design technologies.
