Welcome! The posting rules here are fairly strict, but I hope you understand. The goal here is to curate high effort GIFs from the Fediverse. That being said, here are the rules:
Posts much be at least 25 fps.
Lewd content is not allowed. Go to redgifs for that.
The GIF must be clear, with no artifacts.
Watermarks can not be displayed in the GIF, but providing a link toward more of your OC is fine.
No audio.
Black bars around the GIF are allowed only if they are involved in some kind of transition.
Potaton't: This one is kind of subjective, but remember the goal is to post high quality here.
These are GIFs, not memes. Try to avoid meme-style "impact bold" topt text and bottom text. The content should be clearly visible at all times.
Hosting is something you'll have to figure out for yourself. WEBM is allowed since you'd be cutting down file size by a lot. https://catbox.moe/ works decently well for files under 200mb.
Note: I will repeatedly use the colloquial term "GIF" here to refer to any looping animation. I have come to prefer the WEBP format for my animations that I post to Lemmy, but the term GIF has become somewhat of a catch-all for looping animations regardless of the actual file format used.
Introduction
You may have seen GIFs like this that have a fancy "wipe" transition effect:
Example
This transition can serve two purposes:
Provide a more concrete way for the audience to know where the GIF starts and where it ends. Oftentimes, you may come across a GIF in your feed that is already playing by the time you turn your attention to it. By that point, you might not know if you are right at the beginning of the GIF, or if it is already partway through its loop. If so, the end of the GI