[Unknown]

So I was playing around, checking the loading times using firebug, of a test site with 4 css files and the same with a merged css file. I haven't found much difference.

But I would like to know what's better in terms of server load and performance, having separate css files, or one big css files (approx 22kb). I prefer using multiple css files myself, because I like separating the header styling, from the sidebar styling, etc...

I used to play with joomla a little bit, back then, templates with multiple css files seemed to load a little faster.

All ideas and professional experience welcome. And any ideas on increasing performance are also welcome.(like multiple images in one, and use css to display them (see pligg 9.9))

[dollars5]

Single large CSS with all spaces and optimized one is lot better - first it reduces the number of HTTP calls made and loads faster than many small files. Having all data in in CSS file and applying online optimizers like CSSBeauty, CSSOptimize will render usually 50 - 75% reduction in file size (also make them all into single line eliminating the spaces and line feeds)