<leaves lurk mode> I usually have a "standard" sprite which contains icons that never repeat. A "horizontal" sprite which contains all of my button/ribbon treatments as we use sliding door method a great deal. And on occasion I also have a "vertical" sprite which contained elements that repeat vertically such as shadow edges where the required browser support didn't let me get away with using CSS3 drop shadows. Anything that I can sprite I do. The "standard" sprite can grow quite large, but my break point on whether I split it is entirely dependent on what the http download hit is vs. the file size down load hit. IE: the largest bandwidth hit is usually the question/response back and forth from the server vs. the actual image download. So I'll look at the waterfall for page downloads on an uncached page to make the determination on when a sprite grows so large that its less time to take 2 http hits and download 2 smaller files than 1 http hit with a huge file.
Our sites are hit worldwide and each http hit that we can save is a huge win. Unfortunately I can't show you a production example as these are client facing apps. Our external consumer site at www.gallup.com has not yet been 'sprited' although it will be thoroughly massaged, sprited and optimized as much as I can humanly accomplish by January 2012 when we go live with our election year design. Elizabeth Davies System Application Developer Gallup IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail message and all attachments, if any, may contain confidential and privileged material and are intended only for the person or entity to which the message is addressed. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, disclosure, or copying of this information is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender immediately by reply e-mail, and destroy all copies of the original message. ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [[email protected]] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
