Horizontal Rule using CSS3 Gradient

I love all the little tricks you can perform with CSS 3. I saw this nice horizontal rule on MLSsoccer.com:

mls

The CSS is pretty simple:

hr {
	background: #ababab;
	background: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiA/
		Pgo8c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9Ij
		EwMCUiIGhlaWdodD0iMTAwJSIgdmlld0JveD0iMCAwIDEgMSIgcHJlc2VydmVBc3Bl
		Y3RSYXRpbz0ibm9uZSI+CiAgPGxpbmVhckdyYWRpZW50IGlkPSJncmFkLXVjZ2ctZ2
		VuZXJhdGVkIiBncmFkaWVudFVuaXRzPSJ1c2VyU3BhY2VPblVzZSIgeDE9IjAlIiB5
		MT0iMCUiIHgyPSIxMDAlIiB5Mj0iMCUiPgogICAgPHN0b3Agb2Zmc2V0PSIwJSIgc3
		RvcC1jb2xvcj0iI2ZmZmZmZiIgc3RvcC1vcGFjaXR5PSIxIi8+CiAgICA8c3RvcCBv
		ZmZzZXQ9IjUwJSIgc3RvcC1jb2xvcj0iI2FiYWJhYiIgc3RvcC1vcGFjaXR5PSIxIi
		8+CiAgICA8c3RvcCBvZmZzZXQ9IjEwMCUiIHN0b3AtY29sb3I9IiNmZmZmZmYiIHN0
		b3Atb3BhY2l0eT0iMSIvPgogIDwvbGluZWFyR3JhZGllbnQ+CiAgPHJlY3QgeD0iMC
		IgeT0iMCIgd2lkdGg9IjEiIGhlaWdodD0iMSIgZmlsbD0idXJsKCNncmFkLXVjZ2ct
		Z2VuZXJhdGVkKSIgLz4KPC9zdmc+);
	background: -moz-linear-gradient(left,#ffffff 0%,#ababab 50%,#ffffff 100%);
	background: -webkit-gradient(linear,left top,right top,
		color-stop(0%,#ffffff),color-stop(50%,#ababab),color-stop(100%,#ffffff));
	background: -webkit-linear-gradient(left,#ffffff 0%,#ababab 50%,#ffffff 100%);
	background: -o-linear-gradient(left,#ffffff 0%,#ababab 50%,#ffffff 100%);
	background: -ms-linear-gradient(left,#ffffff 0%,#ababab 50%,#ffffff 100%);
	background: linear-gradient(to right,#ffffff 0%,#ababab 50%,#ffffff 100%);
	filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(
		startColorstr='#ffffff',endColorstr='#ffffff',GradientType=1);
	margin: 20px 0;
}

You can just swap the #ababab color for whatever color you’d like to change the gray, but of course that would not change out the encoded image. Personally, I would just get rid of the embedded image and let browsers that don’t support CSS gradients to use the fallback solid color.