<click-to-play>: A Web Component That Shows a Still Frame Until Clicked
Simon Willison's Weblog·yesterday·New Tool
Simon Willison released `<click-to-play>`, a lightweight web component that wraps GIF embeds and replaces them with a static first-frame image and an on-demand play button. The full animated GIF is fetched only when the user clicks, saving bandwidth on pages with multiple large animations. The component follows progressive-enhancement principles, remaining functional as a plain anchor-and-image fallback when JavaScript is absent.
