how do you specify an image in css instead of a color setting?

https://www.css3.info/preview/border-image/
describes stuff about border images

(I’m not sure where we are as far as which browsers allow this yet)

I’m on IE7 and the example on that site doesn’t work for me…..

thank you. I tried that but it won’t work. I need to put it in place of solid #fff.

have u tried looking at the w3c standards?

w3schools

yes, thanks but it’s not specific enough I don’t think.

because border image is css3, and w3schools doesn’t have a css3 section yet

the link I showed you is pretty clear on how to implement border image. You would need to repl;ace the entire line:
border-left:180px solid #FFF; /* Sidebar left background color */
with something like:
border-left-image: url(border.png) 27 round;

but again…..this is browser specific. if you are using IE you won’t even see it

ok thanks i will try that but i need it to show in both FF and IE.

It won’t. You can’t do border image in IE. It’s not implemented

right, that doesn’t work, it just takes out the whole border. Any other ideas?

I’ve got to give you credit on this one, it’s quite ingenious way to set the sidebars colors ??

Unfortunately for you, IE does not support border images yet.

ok so another way around this is putting the background image in the sidebars. I have put:

#sidebar_left{
float:left;
width:180px;
margin:0 0 0 -180px;
position:relative;
background:url(https://site.co.uk/images/leftbackground.gif) repeat-y left top;

}

And the same for the #sidebar_right. This is showing the image fine, BUT it stops after the widgets in both borders. I need them to continue the height of the sidebars, not just the height of the widgets.

I’m sure you could style sidebar divs instead. If you’ll post a link to your blog, I could try to help you out.

I forget how I did that when I had that same problem.

There are a few methods…. like faux columns (check google)

using a clearfix
<div style="clear: both;"> </div>

worked for me a couple themes ago…..

you can google either faux cvolumns or clearfix to get better instructions than my crappy memory can provide! ??

https://www.alistapart.com/articles/fauxcolumns/

thank you.

It’s also possible to fix it with negative margins:
https://www.alistapart.com/articles/holygrail