Play it in a .Gif-fy!

The recent upgrade to 10.4 Tiger has changed a few things, mostly for the better, but one of the minor quibbles I'd like to address is that Preview will no longer play animated .Gif files. This is particularly annoying for those of us that create web pages, as Preview was a fast, easy way to see the various animated .Gif's in a collection. All the little animated smilies in web pages banging their yellow heads against brick walls, dancing or singing can no longer be viewed as an animated file from the hard drive using Preview, which was the default way to view these up until now. The decision to eliminate this admittedly niche, but useful little function is beyond me to decipher, but take heart, .Gif fans! Safari to the rescue!!!

To play an animated .Gif, right-click (or control-click for those single-buttoners) and in the resulting menu, instead of Preview as the default, select Safari. It will open a new blank page with your .Gif bopping, or bouncing, or doing whatever it is animated .Gif's do with their spare time. I hate to admit it, but I think Windows beat us on this one... [Britt Godwin]