Ask HN: When and why do developers prefer an image as background and not CSS?

2 points

7 years ago

I ask out of morbid curiosity. Took a look under the hood of the Microsoft by the Numbers [1] microsite and noticed the captivating background gradient was actually an image [2] not CSS gradient.

I can guess a few reasons

* Consistent color reproduction on all devices

* Some gradients are difficult to reproduce and may require multiple layers

* Presentation matters more than performance and the code has a one off use

[1] https://news.microsoft.com/bythenumbers/en/homepage

[2] https://news.microsoft.com/bythenumbers/assets/uploads/00/bg-2048.jpg