I want my site to look as best as possible (just like any other webmaster) and I use CSS gradients alot, does that slow down website performance too much? and should I just stick with simple colors? (but gradients make it look much better in my opinion) and does CSS gradients make it actually look better? (I say it does, but I’m just one person…)
There’s some evidence that gradients do slow things a bit, but it’s negligible, really. It’s up to you. Your site is an expression of you and your tastes. CSS gradients don’t work in some browsers, though, so for wider compatibility, use bg images instead.
Feel free to submit a site review request if you want some more detailed opinions.
Alright thank you, I’ll have to do that site review request later, because right now the site is just on my localhost (site is under construction)
In this case, a judgement call on your end is required. Do you want your visitors to experience a less fancy web site or a slower loading one? You have to prioritize or you can balance it out. Maybe use a less intense gradient to make a compromise?
When ever I am thinking about using a purely aesthetic feature in CSS, I always ask myself a question: “Will this significantly improve the experience of the user on my site?”. If the answer to that question is no then I tend to avoid using it (unless I really love it). But it is really up to the designer to figure out what should and should not be on the website.
I will be looking forward to seeing it!
Try building your website with them, and then test the speed (maybe something like: http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/) and then remove them and try again and see if the difference is noticeable.