alt.hn

7/24/2026 at 7:05:58 AM

The hardest way to make a GIF

 https://blog.willgrant.org/2026/07/23/the-hardest-way-to-make-gif.html

by plaguna

7/24/2026 at 7:29:28 PM

> Using imagemagick on the command line I was able to combine the images into a GIF.

man what a cop out, I was hoping they would use a text editor to build the gif. that would be way harder.

by ticulatedspline

7/24/2026 at 7:54:24 PM

Indeed, I've never developed my own film but I do respect it entails a fair bit of effort, and the funky old camera is cool.

But scanning, cropping using one of the latest image editors, then running it through imagemagick does not feel like the hardest way to make a gif.

by hereonout2

7/24/2026 at 8:04:26 PM

Developing film is such a beautiful kind of magic. Watching the image appear in a darkroom before your eyes is a very unique experience.

by adzm

7/24/2026 at 8:35:12 PM

Yeah I was expecting somebody to build a gif by hand from the spec using ed.

by helterskelter

7/24/2026 at 8:51:14 PM

Yeah, real devs write their own LZW compression implementation from scratch in C++

by DerivativeBS

7/24/2026 at 6:51:15 PM

"Acquire photons" was funny

by dominicq

7/24/2026 at 6:52:48 PM

it certainly gives "you must first invent the universe" vibes

by john_strinlai

7/24/2026 at 7:04:25 PM

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe

by MitPitt

7/24/2026 at 9:28:53 PM

No reference to Ulead GIF Animator? Was expecting some time travel step in between.

by mxfh