908613 - Gif playback shouldn't start until we expect it to not stutter because of missing data during playback

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: Graphics: ImageLib, defect)

Description

[Till Schneidereit [:till]]

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #899861 +++

From bug 899861 comment 3:
> (In reply to silverwind from comment #2)
> > I noticed this too and thought it was an intentional change (I kind of like
> > it).
> 
> It could be turned into a feature but it would need some kind of loading
> progress bar and it would have to start at the first page of the animation
> which it doesn't always. In any case we would have to do a bit of research
> to decide if it's better instead of changing it unintentionally.

I'm not sure a loading progress bar is required. Doing the same buffering heuristics that're applied to videos, we should be able to hold off on playback until we can reasonably assume that there won't be any stuttering. If we then also guarantee that playback will start at frame 1, I would argue this is a strictly-better user experience even without a progress bar.

For images that're embedded into pages, it's not clear to me that a progress bar would even be desirable.

Comment 1

[Martin F.]

I’m not convinced this is a good idea. At home (desktop or Android device with WiFi), I have high speed (so I probably don’t see a difference) and unlimited traffic (so I don’t care about saving). On the other hand, when using cellular internet access, I’d like to see the GIF as it’s loading to decide early if it’s worth the precious limited traffic.

Comment 2

[Milan Sreckovic [:milan] (needinfo for best results)]

Valid point.

Comment 3

[Seth Fowler [:seth] [:s2h]]

(In reply to Martin F. from comment #1)
> I’m not convinced this is a good idea. At home (desktop or Android device
> with WiFi), I have high speed (so I probably don’t see a difference) and
> unlimited traffic (so I don’t care about saving). On the other hand, when
> using cellular internet access, I’d like to see the GIF as it’s loading to
> decide early if it’s worth the precious limited traffic.

All my interactions with people who are using Firefox on very bandwidth-constrained links suggests to me that this is not a good idea, for the precisely the reason you give.

I'm inclined to WONTFIX this for the moment. If we get compelling arguments to actually do this, we can reopen.