• Convert CSS images to data URIs automatically with CSSEmbed

    I wanted to play around with Nicholas Zakas’ new tool for automatically converting CSS background images to data URIs so I tested it out with the CSS on this site.  CSSEmbed accepts a CSS file and outputs a copy with all image references replaced with base 64-encoded data URIs.  (If you’re unfamiliar with the concept […]

  • CSS data URIs and Resource Packages

    In the last few days Steve Souders has blogged about two interesting web performance ideas. One is a command line tool built by Nicholas Zakas that makes working with CSS data URIs a little easier.  You can read Steve’s post here. The other is a proposal by Alexander Limi for bundling page components in a […]

  • Project Preview: Pepperminted

    A little project I’m currently working on.

  • Bern Hill Railroad Posters

    These illustrations by Bern Hill for Railway Age Magazine are stunning demonstrations of 1950’s modernist design.  If you’re into these, check out the Antique Roadshow segment about Bern Hill’s work.  More images after the jump. Via Signal vs. Noise.  Image credit for most of these appears to go to Alphabet City, who tooks photos of […]

  • Optimizing CSS Selectors

    In most cases, the best way to optimize your CSS for web performance is simple: keep the file size down by not writing more rules than are necessary and by not making redundant declarations.

    That said, for the serious players, it’s worth taking a look at how selectors are matched. It may make you rethink a few of your CSS practices.

  • Domain sharding tests in IE7, IE8, Firefox, and Safari

    I was curious about the possible performance penalty of sharding domains for browsers that support a high number of connections per hostname, so I decided to set up a few tests. Taking after Steve Souder’s domain sharding demo, I created a page with 20 images, 2 30K stylesheets, and 2 50Kb Javascript files. I then […]