I just had a flashback after seeing that “Add a new deal” button. Buttons in that style used to be all over the 37signals apps — back in the days before CSS supported borders, gradients, rounded corners and such. So at first they were all images. Then someone smart (a contractor as I recall) came along and figured out how to make them work with HTML text (so we could programmatically localize Basecamp) by means of clever CSS and multiple background images. Remember sliding doors?

It’s crazy to think about all the work we put into making those just so. Cool to see they live on in spirit!