Microsoft® SharePoint® Designer 2010 Unleashed

CSS Sprites

CSS sprites have been introduced in SharePoint 2010. CSS sprites are by no means new to Web development. Web developers have been using CSS sprites for several years to improve website performance. A major benefit of using CSS sprites is that they reduce HTTP requests and round trips by cutting down on the number of image files downloaded each time a Web page/site is accessed. Rather than downloading 20 separate GIF or PNG files, only one file containing multiple images is downloaded. CSS works its magic by identifying and referencing the precise location (x and y axes) of each image within the CSS sprite file so that each image can be correctly found and positioned in the defined location on a web page. For instance, a single CSS ...