Okay, I’m probably going to annoy a few people with this one, but . . . yeah I don’t care. See, I hate animated gifs. Really, really REALLY hate them. Now it’s not so bad if you’ve got one or maybe two and I can scroll my page down and just view your words and not see the constant flickering animation. But if there’s one every few lines, I’m gonna go a little spastic. I have several blogger pals who LOVE using these, and since I love their blogs I try to keep reading them, but it’s getting to a point where I’m just gonna have to draw the line and say
It’s not just that I find them annoying – though I do – it’s that they actually physically bother me. I get eye strain and headaches from the things. You know how they advise epileptics not to look at flashing lights because they can cause seizures? This doesn’t surprise me one bit, because I feel like I might have one every time I look at the things. And I can talk about seizures because I really did have one, though it was many years ago and I luckily have not had one since. As far as I know. But ugh, those freaking flashing gifs are awful, and they distract from whatever the person is writing. They distract A LOT. And I’m easily distracted enough as it is.
Were you saying something?
And what is the point? As you know if you’ve read my blog, I love using images in my posts. I’ve never found a need to animate one, though. I mean – why do you have to show someone actively facepalming (head falling to hand, head jumping back up, head falling to hand, head jumping back up, rinse, repeat, puke) when you could just show a picture of the facepalm? Huh? I don’t get it. I think you can be just as funny without the things. Actually I like you MORE without them.
You see? Facepalm. I get that he’s facepalming. I didn’t need to see him actively doing it.
Cause let’s think about this a minute. Who else uses animated gifs? Advertisers! And is there anyone out there that likes those advertisements that flash on Facebook or certain websites every five seconds? No. I mean, sure, the gif of the guy shaking his head and saying “No” is funnier than the one of the lady whose tummy inflates then deflates then inflates again, making me wonder if a diet pill really wants to advertise by showing the effects of yo-yo dieting, but still. It’s not that funny. Especially when you can just find a still picture of Grumpy Cat. I fully believe Grumpy Cat fits into most anything, just by giving us that “I hate you. Die now.” stare.
Are you tired of Grumpy Cat? Well, I’m tired of animated gifs. We’re even.
Anyway, peeps gonna do what peeps gonna do. If you still wanna use the animated gifs, and you like them, more power to ya. But I’m not gonna read posts that use multiple animated flashing gifs anymore. It’s not worth it. I have AdBlock on my computer at home, and it is possibly the most awesome ad-on you can get. I wish it worked on blogs too, because I would really like to read those posts.
PRIME OFFENDER: TWINDADDY
If this makes no sense, I plead brain damage from the last set of animated gifs I watched. Which were probably on the above blog.
What do you guys think? Do you like the animated gifs? Do you ever put them in the comments section? Cause if you do, I will seriously HUNT YOU DOWN. Anyhoo, let me know in the comments below!
Note: After writing this post, I discovered that there IS a way to shut off the animation of the gifs in internet explorer and firefox if you are interested. Not sure how long it will work, but here is the link.
aliceatwonderland 
And here I thought I was the only one on whom animation was lost ! =)
I KNEW I couldn’t be the only one! I kept looking around for another article complaining about this, and all I found were “Here is how to make animated gifs!” Arghhhh.
Animated girls… reminds me of the episode of Sabrina the teenage witch where they used Man-Dough to create a date for her dance… played by none other than Brian Austin Green… go figure ! =)
Yes, I just did admit, in public, to having watched that show, but I do have a teen in the house who subjects me to all kinds of horrors on a regular basis. =)
Man- Dough! Love it. The girls and I have a game called “Boyfriend in a Box” where we advertise a Ken doll and all his features. Like you can get him to match your clothes, or he can hold your purse for you, or you can show him off at parties like a prize pony, etc.
Do you think they make a real man version ?! =)
Yes! He’s on that Bachelorette show, I think.
Ooh…will have to check it out… ! =)
I think in the entire time I’ve been blogging I’ve used animated gifs 3 times, and I’m pretty sure they were in 3 separate posts. Granted, 2 of them were pretty recently and the content of the posts dealt with the same asshat – but still, different posts.
I’m not really a fan of them either. There’s just something annoying about the overwhelming majority of them. I try to be pretty careful about any images I use, making sure they really enhance my writing and not detract from it. The animated stuff just *rarely* seems to fit with what I do.
But it’s good to know that you don’t care for them. Should I ever feel the need to use one again I’ll try to remember to put a special “Alice – animated gif TRIGGER” warning at the top just for you. 😉
Lol! Yes, animated gif trigger would be excellent! Ha! Like I said, one or two is no big deal if you can scroll down and avoid them. Or if there were some way to see it once then turn it off, it’d be okay. I did find out how to stop the animating though, so now I only see a picture. I like it much better that way!
Excellent….
I have a “live and let gif” attitude. I’ve done a gif exactly once when I had to show a movement, but I don’t really mind them. But then I never had seizures either, though maybe once I see enough gifs I will.
Eh, you don’t need animated gifs in your posts. A picture of say, Rush Limbaugh, is bad enough. We definitely don’t want to see him animated. Ewwww.
Oh, X. “live and let gif.” Awesome.
Of course you know, this means war.
😀 Bring it on!
It’s being brought!!
Are ya gonna show me some scary gifs, are ya?
You won’t see them because blocked. Ha!
I see the pictures, just not the nauseous moving parts. I just thought of that phrase, nauseous moving parts, and it made me kind of nauseous. I had to look up how to spell nauseous.
That nauseates me.
[…] the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the shot heard around the bloggy world has been fired. Evidently, there is a blogger out there who really, intensely loathes animated GIF’s. Enough […]
Hee hee – I actually don’t like animated gifs (and I was thinking this yesterday and today before reading either TW or yoursel) because they hurt my eyes and give me headaches.
Maybe it’s the old lady librarian in us. Back in my day we didn’t need no flashing gifs! And our card catalogs had actual cards!
hee hee – I think it’s the headaches that they cause 🙂
It worked!
I don’t like the way gifs keep repeating. I agree that the constant animation is distracting.
Right? Drives me nuts. I guess I’m not good at multitasking, because I can either stare at a blinking image till I hemorrhage or I can read, not both.
I only use gifs ironically. #hipstershithead
Haha! That should be on a T-shirt.
Or overalls.
The only reason I don’t use a lot of GIF’s is because they eat up more memory space than plain old images. I’ve created a few color-changing GIF’s before, but never one that was actually animated. Now I know who to test it on when I finally do get around to it! 😉
Aha! There’s a good reason. Quit wasting memory people! Recycle like me: use the same images repeatedly and hope no one notices!
YAY! I’m not the only one!! (insert gif of me jumping up and down for joy, and up and down for joy, and…)
I once commented on someone’s blog and told them that there were so many gifs on their page (I just now almost typed ‘gifts’) that I couldn’t read the words. They responded nicely but basically said, “Too damn bad.” Yeah, so the flashing nonsense of gifs gives me headaches.
Since I tend not to return to blogs that over use them, I probably won’t need the blocker at this time. Thanks for saying what I’ve wanted to for a long time.
As I said before, I just knew I couldn’t be the only one! It’s like I’m this uncool fuddy duddy, but whatevs. If I wanted to be surrounded in that stuff full time I’d just live on the Las Vegas strip.
I hear that! Yeah, I hate all the blasting my poor eyes, and all. I’m the one who won’t watch a TV show or game live because I can’t stand the commercials! Thank God for DVR’s!! 🙂
Gifs don’t really bother me, but a whole slew of them can get a little overstimulating. In fact, you may have just uncovered a great hypothesis for a new research study–do Gifs trigger headaches and seizures? You can be case #1. 🙂
Answer? Yes! I’m not sure since as you know, I’m sure, you can actually have those mini seizures that people don’t see – you just stare off into space. I stare off into space a lot. So there’s no telling what is happening in my brain. I’d do a test study, but it’s hard to do it on yourself, especially when you’re easily . . . hey, a squirrel!
Oh, the neuroscientists who would love to get a hold of your brain…
Maybe they’d save it like they did Einstein’s and just cart it around everywhere, for fun. We call it “Distracted Librarian Brain”. Unlike your average brain, this one bounces.
Haha, that’s always a perk.
Hooray for grumpy cat!
Sorry, I was distracted by his death glare, was there something else I was supposed to be doing?
Not really. Grumpy Cat is all that matters. Worship Grumpy Cat at the computer of your choice.
Done. Did it yesterday too. And, in all likelihood, will continue tomorrow.
I like animated gifs. Reminds me of being in the world of Harry Potter and the pictures come alive in the posters and newspapers. I know it turns other people off, but I like using them on occasion. I probably used them a whole lot more in the past, but not as much these days. I just go to Tumblr for my gif fix – but I’m a sucker for the visuals – whether it’s not moving, or it is.
To each her own. Somehow the motion just makes me sick to my stomach.
Thanks, Alice. I hate them too. Although I think that if folks want to use them, I am free to either position the words where I can read them without puking or else I just click the little “X” at the top right.
The little X does work quite well.
I don’t mind them but can see how many of them becomes frustrating. I have a similar problem with certain backgrounds for blogs, or background colour and font colour clashes (and I did a post about it on the no-longer-available Black Box Warnings). If we’re going to use the internet, then we should try and make things easy for our readers at the very least!
Oh, wow, yeah. I’ve seen some web pages with like a red background and yellow lettering and it’s like whaaaat?
Tell me about it. Plain old black and white can be quite harsh too – think of some of the optical illusion images. That’s headache territory for me.
No to animated gifs (I see how hey can possibly cause seizures, plus I just don’t think they’re funny and no to birthday cards with cat, kittens, dogs and puppies on the cover. (“Happy Birthday to Someone Special!” with a basket of kittens in the middle of a field. NO!!!) One has nothing to do with the other, but their annoyance level is equal to me.
Now you can get a e-card with an animated kitten in a field. Arghhhhhh.
That’s just wrong.
Funny thing, I have a “take it or leave it” attitude to most things on the internet but I actually HATE nay LOATHE gifs. Perhaps if the gif did it once it would be funny but over and over again while I am trying to read makes me want to shut it off and there is no shut off button in my program. I am glad to see some shutting off buttons are available which means I will have one one day. ALSO I pay GOOD MONEY to not have ads on my blog because I want to provide an oasis of calm craftiness and eventually free mini workshops to inspire people to use their hands to create things. Loved your post.
Yes! It’s the over and over thing that really gets me. If it just moved once, fine, but it’s like riding the Tilt-A-Whirl. I feel all barfy! There is also something on Firefox called AdBlock – free download and blammo, the ads are gone. Truly, it did cometh from on high.
[…] to cut down on the caffeine. This week, the unbridled polling collective stands in solidarity with Alice At Wonderland in her battle against the forces of Big GIF. Beknownst to all, Alice is a huge TLC Reality Show […]
I never used to add animated gifs to posts, and then this year came and movement arrived with it. Though, I totally get you. It’s like strobe lights, but with images. (If you ever visit my blog, don’t scroll down too far.)
I have been warned. The strobe lights is a perfect comparison. I’m blindddd!
Hahaha! Overlapping déjà vu also seems correct!
Not a fan. Whenever I mess up somebody’s name or forget the capital of Delaware, I’m convinced it is entirely due to mini-brain seizures caused by dancing “Obama wants you to refinance” ads on the interwebz.
This is important work you’re doing here – keep it up.
I agree, they annoy the crap out of me and make it difficult to read the actual post! 😀
I don’t really mind either way, but this “war” has been hilarious!