Abstract

An experiment was carried out to determine whether or not the Image Block[1] in the Squarespace Editor would accept an animated gif rather than a static [2] jpg or png image. A subsidiary aspect of the experiment aimed to determine if the Image area in the Options section of the Squarespace editor could display a fully-functioning animated gif on the outward-facing part of a website, known in this example as “the blog” [3]. The experiment was deemed to be a success, both in terms of its ability to determine whether an animated gif could be used, and the fact that this was indeed found to be the case.

Aims of the experiment

To determine:

• Whether the Editor’s Image Block can display a fully-functional animated gif.

• Whether the Options Image Block can display a fully-functional animated gif.

• The ease with which an animated gif might be created.

Methodology

The subject took four photos using an Android phone. These were automatically uploaded to the subject’s personal area on Google Photos, thereby serving as a backup.

The subject then used an app called Pencil Photo Sketch to transform the photographs into cartoons. He then saved these to his phone, taking care to use different filenames from those originally allocated automatically by the camera app.

The subject then manually uploaded these photographs to the Animated Gif Maker website, where he selected several options and then clicked a button to generate a gif. The following was the result:

The subject then used the animated gif in a blog post called Twitter Toxicity: Beware the Ultracrepidarians.

Evaluation

The experiment achieved its aims as set out earlier in this paper. However, it is important to note that the success of the experiment could be due at least in part to the experimenter effect, given that the subject expected it to work. It is highly recommended that the experiment be repeated on a larger scale using a standard double blind methodological approach.

Moreover, as only 4 photographs were utilised in the creation of the animated gif, it could be argued that the result was more “jerky” than it needed to have been. Increasing the quantity of photographs used by a magnitude of 100% is recommended.

Notes

1. See Freedman (2009), “Are Blocks elitist? A discussion of shape-oriented writing in the 20th century”, Jnl of Experimental Space, pp 113-124.

2. Ibid p.122.

3. The term “the blog” is used throughout this paper as an abbreviation of “the weblog”.