Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, has died

Stephen Wilhite, one of many lead inventors of the GIF, died final week from COVID on the age of 74, based on his spouse, Kathaleen, who spoke to The Verge. He was surrounded by household when he handed. His obituary web page notes that “even with all his accomplishments, he remained a really humble, form, and good man.”

Stephen Wilhite labored on GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, which is now used for reactions, messages, and jokes, whereas employed at CompuServe within the Nineteen Eighties. He retired across the early 2000s and spent his time touring, tenting, and constructing mannequin trains in his basement.

Though GIFs are synonymous with animated web memes lately, that wasn’t the explanation Wilhite created the format. CompuServe launched them within the late Nineteen Eighties as a technique to distribute “high-quality, high-resolution graphics” in colour at a time when web speeds had been glacial in comparison with what they’re immediately. “He invented GIF all by himself — he truly did that at residence and introduced it into work after he perfected it,” Kathaleen mentioned. “He would determine all the things privately in his head after which go to city programming it on the pc.”

If you wish to go extra in-depth into the historical past of the GIF, the Each day Dot has explainer of how the format grew to become an web phenomenon.

Whereas there have been long-standing debates concerning the right pronunciation of the picture format, Wilhite was very clear on how he supposed for it to be mentioned. In 2013, he advised The New York Occasions, “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts each pronunciations. They’re improper. It’s a tender ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ Finish of story.”

He reiterated that stance whereas accepting a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for the invention of the GIF later that month, utilizing an animation to offer his acceptance speech. (You may watch the entire clip of him receiving the award right here.) “After 25 years, they lastly honored that achievement that he did,” Kathaleen mentioned, including that creating the GIF was the factor he was most happy with.

A number of messages from former colleagues on his obituary web page mentioned that Stephen additionally made different essential contributions throughout his time at CompuServe, describing a tough employee who had a significant affect on the corporate’s success.

After Stephen retired, the couple traveled collectively. Kathaleen mentioned that one of the crucial memorable journeys was their honeymoon once they visited the Grand Canyon. “I had by no means seen it earlier than, and he needed to indicate it to me,” she mentioned fondly. The couple additionally went tenting “on a regular basis,” she mentioned.

Whereas at residence, he appreciated to work on his mannequin prepare set. “Once we had the home constructed, we truly had an entire part within the basement for his prepare room. He at all times did the designs and electrical work for the format,” mentioned Kathaleen.

Within the Occasions interview, Wilhite mentioned that certainly one of his favourite GIFs is the dancing child meme, which went viral earlier than “memes” and “going viral” had been extensively used phrases. So right here’s to you, Mr. Wilhite. Thanks for creating the picture format that made downloading colour photographs over dial-up bearable earlier than it became one of many web’s personal languages.