Back in the 1990s, just about every website came with some kind of GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) animation, primarily because these small moving images were about the only form of animation possible with the bandwidth of that era. When video-stream speeds arrived, the days of the jumpy GIF seemed numbered.
But, even as technology has moved ahead, some people seem to be rediscovering the charms of GIF animation. Indeed, there's now even the option of turning a YouTube video into a GIF animation with Gifyoutube.com.
If you want to try your luck with converting an interesting, curious or funny clip, just type the letters "gif" at the front of the YouTube address in the browser bar. That would mean turning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5tdHwQpNzO into https://www.gifyoutube.com/watch?v=w5tdHwQpNzO.
Once you hit return, you're automatically taken to the Gifyoutube.com page, where you can set the length, name and starting point of your GIF. If you click on Create GIF without opting for any changes, the site will automatically turn the first 10 seconds of the clip into a GIF.
Once that's done, right-click on the completed GIF to get an internet address that will lead to the clip. Save that and send it along to friends by email or post it directly onto your Facebook page. However, it's not possible to download the GIF onto your own machine.