theme images: why png and not gif?

[mccrabney]

why is png the image filetype of choice for themes, rather than gif?

i'm imagining a midi note colormap that has gently pulsing colors via gif instead of a static png. this would allow users to create "selected" colors that are more highly visible.

i'm ready to hear why this is a terrible idea!
(well, ready to hear why it's not technically feasible/good idea. not interested in hearing more opinions about aesthetics)

[Lokasenna]

- Better compression -> smaller files
- Millions of colors vs. 256
- The whole range of transparency from clear to opaque vs. only clear and opaque.

[mccrabney]

thanks. that's what i figured.