Your steemit avatar is a static .png file, stored at Amazon S3. I think the Steemit interface just converts an externally located image to an internally controlled, externally sourced S3-hosted ("image proxy") 128x128px .png, just in case the external source doesn't load, then your profile picture wouldnt display at all, and on top of that it could contain malware or be extremely large in filesize and therefore cumbersome to load.
The Utopian interface (currently) just displays the external source images, in @cnts's case an animated gif.
Edit: animated PNGs are possible as well. The coolest online image filesize reducer I know of, is https://tinypng.com/ . It has an API as well, so you might want to suggest using TinyPNG for conversion purposes, to Steemit Inc. I guess you know who to contact? ;-)
I'm over here digging into JSON and .gifs now—rather than writing that post I mentioned to you, @scipio. I wonder if the different parameters on Utopian (for calling on resources from the blockchain, which has to be different than this interface??) is what makes it easier—or plain possible versus not—to get the full effect of the file?
Sorry? I don't understand what you mean..
I was rushing, apologies. Utopian.io’s interface allows more flexible expression of json metadata than Steemit ß (you can see this blockchain-tethered information when you go to Steemd and view an account; there’s a box with all of that information, including your profile picture URL). That’s what I’m assuming, at least. I was wondering aloud re: what exactly makes this little thing/task—one which seems so simple (posting an animated gif as your avatar on this particular website on the steem blockchain)—actually so hard, if it is possible. I figure the answer is somewhere in the layers between the interfaces and the blockchain itself.
You found out first!
yeah thanks! It turned out that Busy.org and Utopian display my avatar as a GIF now, but Steemit is the problem.
6.15 kick backs.. sweet lord.. i go awol for four days!! .. great stuff @scipio :}