feat: Replace GPU-intensive Aurora background with efficient gradient animation

[aj47]

Overview

Replaced the GPU-intensive Continuous Aurora Background Animation with a more efficient, lightweight background system to improve performance and reduce GPU usage.

Changes Made

🎨 Aurora Background Component (src/components/ui/aurora-background.tsx)

Before:

• Heavy blur effects (blur-[100px], blur-[120px], blur-[90px])
• Continuous 60-second linear animations with animate-aurora
• Complex gradient animations with background-position changes
• Multiple layered animated elements with pseudo-elements
• GPU-intensive transform3d and will-change properties

After:

• Static gradient base with subtle color transitions
• Minimal animated overlay with gentle movement
• Optional subtle particle effects using CSS-only animations
• Significantly reduced GPU usage
• Maintained visual appeal with better performance

🎭 CSS Animations (src/app/globals.css)

Removed:

• @keyframes aurora - Complex background-position animation
• .animate-aurora - GPU-intensive animation class

Added:

• @keyframes gentle-shift - Subtle gradient movement (20s duration)
• @keyframes float-slow - Gentle particle floating (15s duration)
• @keyframes float-delayed - Delayed particle animation (18s duration)
• @keyframes float-gentle - Rotating particle animation (22s duration)

⚙️ Tailwind Configuration (tailwind.config.js)

Updated animation definitions:

• Removed aurora keyframe and animation
• Added new efficient animation classes

🚀 Performance Benefits

GPU Usage Reduction

• Before: Continuous GPU layer creation with transform3d and will-change
• After: Minimal GPU usage with simple transform and opacity changes

Animation Efficiency

• Before: Complex background-position animations running every frame
• After: Simple transform and opacity animations with longer durations

Battery Life

• Before: High GPU usage leading to increased power consumption
• After: Minimal resource usage improving battery life on mobile devices

🧪 Testing Results

• ✅ Homepage loads with new efficient background
• ✅ Results page displays correctly with new background
• ✅ Visual appeal maintained while reducing GPU usage
• ✅ Animations are smooth and subtle
• ✅ No performance degradation observed
• ✅ Respects prefers-reduced-motion settings for accessibility

📚 Documentation

Added comprehensive documentation in BACKGROUND_OPTIMIZATION.md detailing:

• Technical implementation details
• Performance improvements
• Browser compatibility
• Migration notes
• Future improvement suggestions

🔧 Migration Notes

• No breaking changes to component API
• Existing AuroraBackground component usage remains the same
• All pages using the component automatically benefit from the optimization
• No additional configuration required

This change significantly improves the application's performance while maintaining the visual appeal of the background animations.

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Pull Request opened by Augment Code with guidance from the PR author