Why is Safari so DAMN TERRIBLE at processing GIFs?

[GreenFrog]

I have a mid-2007 Macbook Pro 15". Running on Leopard version 10.5.8

Whenever I browse forums or any website and there's a GIF, safari starts lagging and can't process the GIF for CRAP.

The gif plays very choppily, then safari freezes for a couple secs and the spinning colorful wheel starts spinning.

In firefox, however, the gifs play very well and smoothly. Naturally, I'd switch to firefox, but I'm way too accustomed to safari and don't want to.

Why is Safari so terrible with GIFs? The safari version I'm running is 4.0.4.

How do I make safari play GIFs smoothly without lagging up like a retarded computer?

 

[maflynn]

People still use GIFs????

 

[csdibiase]

People still use GIFs????

because there still isn't a widely adopted replacement for animated GIF's yet...

 

[locust76]

People still use GIFs????

Just because they're not spread all over webpages like the Geocities pages of the late 90's doesn't mean a piece of software can implement the format in a substandard way.

 

[miles01110]

This issue comes up from time to time.

 

[GreenFrog]

This issue comes up from time to time.

Looked through that link you posted.. so it seems like there's no solution?

You can either block them through 3rd party software or just endure through them?

 

[miles01110]

Basically. I'm not saying it's right...just saying how it is :-\

edit: or for sites with gifs use FF.

 

[Sky Blue]

Safari 4 on 10.6 has much improved gif support. 10.5 with pretty terrible.

 

[nagromme]

Weird. I never had a problem (first-gen MacBook Air).