I haven't used it yet, but this is one of the first javascript shelf libraries I have seen that actually has smooth animations on desktop AND mobile devices.
Really nice library for manipulating a fake DOM end extracting/manipulating content with a jquery compatible syntax.
Similar to jsdom + jquery, but much more performant and without any of the memory leaks.
I actually don't like using CSS gradients as much, just because of the backwards compatibility issues. However, the same effect can be achieved using the neat trick employed by Drew Wilson here: http://executeventures.co/
For those too lazy to click the link, he has a 1px wide image that gets repeated as a background image, creating a nice gradient.
The image file only weighs 1k, so I'd say it's worth the extra HTTP request.