Well if automated canvas animation of gif files isn't available, you could try using sprite-sheets, but that indeed would require a bit more code.
var img_obj = {
'source': null,
'current': 0,
'total_frames': 16,
'width': 16,
'height': 16
};
var img = new Image();
img.onload = function () { // Triggered when image has finished loading.
img_obj.source = img; // we set the image source for our object.
}
img.src = 'img/filename.png'; // contains an image of size 256x16
// with 16 frames of size 16x16
function draw_anim(context, x, y, iobj) { // context is the canvas 2d context.
if (iobj.source != null)
context.drawImage(iobj.source, iobj.current * iobj.width, 0,
iobj.width, iobj.height,
x, y, iobj.width, iobj.height);
iobj.current = (iobj.current + 1) % iobj.total_frames;
// incrementing the current frame and assuring animation loop
}
function on_body_load() { //
...var canvas = document.getElementById('canvasElement');
//
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
setInterval((function (c, i) {
return function () {
draw_anim(c, 10, 10, i);
};
})(context, img_obj), 100);
}
This is how I'd tackle the problem. Hope this has been helpful. (tested)