Question

I am trying to have a header which has a fade left from light-blue to blue, a center which is blue and a right which is blue to light-blue fade out. The header must be 100% in width. Can someone please tell me if this is the best approach to have a css driven header section, which consists of a left fade (background image which fades), a right fade and a center header section.. The issue I am having is that the current way is overflowing/restricting me when setting pixels incase someone decides to resize the browser window. Any help will be appreciated.. cheers.

 <div id="header">
<div id="leftfade"></div>
<div id="header_container">
   <div id="languagechooser"></div> 
    <div id="logo"></div>    
  <div id="navbar">
        <ul>
            <li class="navleft"><a href="aa.a">HOME</a></li>
            <li><a href="aa.a">xxxxxxxx</a></li>
            <li><a href="aa.a">xxxxxxxxxxxx</a></li>
            <li><a href="aa.a">xxxxxxxxxx</a></li>
            <li><a href="aa.a">xxxxxxxxxxxx</a></li>

        </ul>                                                             
    </div>                
</div>                     
<div id="rightfade"></div></div>

    body{
background: #FFFFFF;
margin: 0px auto;
font-size: 62.5%;
color:#000000;
width:100%;
min-width:965px;}
   #header{
position:relative;
height:157px;
background-color:#74d7ea;}
  #header #leftfade
  {
    float:left;
    background: url(../img/header_leftfade.png) repeat-y top left;
    width:25%;  
    height:157px;}
    #header #rightfade{
    position:absolute;
    right:0;
    background: url(../img/header_rightfade.png) repeat-y top right;
    width:25%;
    height:157px;}
    #header #header_container{

float:left;
position:relative;
text-align:left;
min-width:50%;
    height:157px;}
    #header #logo{
float:left;
background: url(../img/logo.png) no-repeat;
width:408px;
height:63px;
margin-top:20px;}
    #header #languagechooser{
float:right;
width:150px;
height:50px;
background-color:#ffffff;
margin-left:100px;}
    #header #navbar{
clear:both;
position:relative;
top:15px;
height:30px;
background-color:#63bdce;
width:98%;
 overflow:hidden;}
    #header #navbar ul{ list-style:none;}

    #header #navbar ul li{  float:left;}
    #header #navbar ul li a{
 background: url(navi_bg_divider.png) no-repeat right;
 padding-right: 12px;
 font: bold 1.7em Myriad Pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
 padding-left: 12px;
 display: inline-block;
 line-height: 30px;
 text-decoration: none;
 color:#ffffff;}

Answer 1

If you want a gradient to resize, try a CSS3 gradient instead of using images. Or you could center the blue section with background-position:center; and let the white left and right take up as much space either side as is left after any resize.