[maxst]

> When designing PNG as a replacement for GIF, they very deliberately and decidedly dropped the animation feature.

The goal was to replace GIFs. And look what happened: "GIF" became synonymous with "animation".

[gpvos]

The main goal was to create a patent-free replacement for GIF, with a number of improvements for its main uses. GIF animation was not used much at that moment.

[maxst]

Still, it's not like it was impossible to make some last minute changes, while PNG was still relatively young. See https://boutell.com/innards/apng.html

[gpvos]

Thanks for that link.