After almost two decades of trying to figure out how to pronounce “GIF” properly, we finally have a definitive answer from the creator. Steve Wihite created the “GIF” format in 1987 for Compuserve and this week received a Webby Award for it. His acceptance speech was just five words:
“It’s pronounced ‘JIF’, not ‘GIF’.”
There you have it.
It also gives us a nice look back on the GIF, which began its life as an art file format for terrible online services like Compuserve and AOL, and migrated into being a clever way to animate construction signs on your website that you’re building which never actually got done. The format had a fall in popularity when the JPG and PNG formats rose to prominence, then rebounded as a way to create animated memes and short clips of pornography.
Like this:
Like Loading...
The official answer on how you pronounce “GIF”.
After almost two decades of trying to figure out how to pronounce “GIF” properly, we finally have a definitive answer from the creator. Steve Wihite created the “GIF” format in 1987 for Compuserve and this week received a Webby Award for it. His acceptance speech was just five words:
“It’s pronounced ‘JIF’, not ‘GIF’.”
There you have it.
It also gives us a nice look back on the GIF, which began its life as an art file format for terrible online services like Compuserve and AOL, and migrated into being a clever way to animate construction signs on your website that you’re building which never actually got done. The format had a fall in popularity when the JPG and PNG formats rose to prominence, then rebounded as a way to create animated memes and short clips of pornography.
Like this:
Related Posts
Apple’s Curiously Complex Innovation Problem
Apple and the End of the Home Screen
An entry primer to 4K
When did workplace technology fall behind?
About The Author
Travis
He has a twenty plus career in product creation, which includes writing and describing an endless series of bad decisions.