My dark mode site crashed a user's browser when they opened it on a train in Chicago last Tuesday

Turns out the animated gradient background I spent 3 hours tweaking was causing a memory leak in Firefox after about 4 minutes, has anyone else run into performance issues with animated backgrounds in dark themes?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler_baker3d ago

Wait, animated gradients still in 2025?

seth_nguyen3d ago

Three years ago I used a rainbow gradient on a client's hero section and they still bring it up at every meeting... Animated gradients are like that one pair of neon sneakers you bought in 2018 that you just can't throw away. They're not exactly trendy anymore but they still somehow work if you use them sparingly. Honestly I still throw a subtle animated gradient into my own portfolio site just to keep myself humble. We all have those design habits we can't shake I guess.