Honestly, I view the need to hit the play button as the right user-experience. Sure, a user-defined option to turn that off would be cool, but I'd never use it. I wish GIFs had that option as well, actually
I agree - I wouldn't enable that option either, but at least it'd offer a better alternative for people who do like GIFs / GIF-like animations.
It's a bit ironic that the autoplay functionality of BPG is touted by some as a major advantage, yet the only reason it autoplays is because it currently has to be implemented in Javascript (bypassing the normal push-to-play behavior of web video).
If the people pushing for native BPG browser support get their way, the most likely outcome will be BPG implemented with the same push-to-play UX as any other kind of web video.
(I know this is really late, but HN has been really aggressive about "submitting too fast" lately, and a half hour's wait didn't convince it to let me try again.)
I'm sorry; you're right, I misunderstood your needs, and thought that you wanted GIFs not to play at all. As with "there's an app for that", the answer to most Firefox needs is "there's an extension for that". I'm not in touch with the current Firefox extension ecosystem, but some Googling suggests that https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/toggle-animat... should fill the need.
It's a bit ironic that the autoplay functionality of BPG is touted by some as a major advantage, yet the only reason it autoplays is because it currently has to be implemented in Javascript (bypassing the normal push-to-play behavior of web video).
If the people pushing for native BPG browser support get their way, the most likely outcome will be BPG implemented with the same push-to-play UX as any other kind of web video.