JULY 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 81And yes, this technique will work only if you
pronounceGIFthewayitscreator,SteveWilhite,
intendedittobepronounced:‘JIF’.Forthosewho
don’tfollowthisconvention,sufferwithyourstatic
backgroundpictureofaleaf.
We think GIFs are the superior choice because they
areplentifulandtypicallyusejustthebestpartofthe
video,gamecliporbackgroundthatyouwant.You
cangotogiphy.com,reddit,orpickfromdozensof
sitesthathostanever-endingstreamofGIFs.Another
advantage GIFs have over video is the army of Internet
commandos standing ready to create immediate-
reaction GIFstonewsevents,pressconferences,and
game-winningshotsinalmost-realtime.Ifyouwantit,
someone’sprobablyalreadymadeit.
Grab your favourite GIF
You can typically download a GIF from most services by
right-clickingit andselectingSaveAsfromwithinyour
browser.WerecommendcreatingafolderforyourGIFs
andoneforyourfinalZoombackgrounds.
For the purposes of this video, we’re using a GIF
we had previously clipped a video segment from our
colleaguesatPCWorldandconvertedintoa bite-sized
GIFtopostonTwitter.Withafullshelter-in-placegoing,
what better way to annoy co-workers?
Upload your GIF
Aswesaidearlier,Zoomdoesn’tworkwithGIFs,so
you’llneedtomakethisintoafileformattheapp
supports.Therearemanywaysavailable,butweused
the free web service ezgif.com.Thesitesupports