Need Help with a Background Image

How could I add a background image to the left column in the code below?

body	{	font:normal 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color:#000; margin:0px; padding:0px; margin-bottom:15px; }
a	{	color:#660033; }
a img	{	border:0px; }
.canvas	{	width:770px; background-color:#eee; margin:auto; }
.header	{	height:76px; background-color:#660033; text-align:center; padding:10px 0px; }
.bar	{	height:2px; background-color:#eee; font-size:1px; border-top:2px solid #000; border-bottom:2px solid #000; }
.main	{	background-color:#e5e5e5; height:100%; }
.lcol	{	float:left; width:170px; }
.rcol	{	float:right; width:550px; background-color:#fff; height:100%; padding-left:20px; padding-right:20px; padding-top:40px; }
.footer	{	font-size:10px; text-align:center; line-height:25px; color:#666; background-color:#000; clear:both; }
.footer a	{	color:#fff; text-decoration:none; }
.footer a:hoverc	{	text-decoration:underline; }
.vmenu	{	background-color:#fff; line-height:25px; color:#666; font-weight:bold; padding-left:15px; border-bottom:1px solid #e5e5e5; }
.madd	{	text-align:center; margin:20px 0px; }
.mblock a	{	text-decoration:none; color:#666; }

Code (markup):

Thanks,

 

.lcol { float:left; width:170px; background: url('image.jpg');}

 

Awesome, that worked great. How can I make it so the image does not repeat?

 

background-repeat: no-repeat;

 

Or use shorthand css:
background: url(image.jpg) no-repeat;

 

Is there any real advantage to shorthand? I mean, if your stylesheet were a mile long, I see how it could be useful, but in everyday use is it essentially the same?

 

Shorter CSS-stylesheets load faster. Since your visitors are going to download the whole CSS-file for every page they see, it needs to be as light as you can make it. Hence shorthand is a very good idea.

 

Most browsers will cache a stylesheet so users don't need to download it more than once.

Obviously its still preferable to make it as short as possible.

 

A prime reason for shorthand notation is ease of human readability. The computer doesn't care, but when you're trying to alter or debug the css, good formatting and sensible rulesets make a huge difference in the time and effort it takes.

It is a Good Thing® to write your code as if the maintainer is a violent psychotic who knows where you live.

cheers,

gary

 

I code by hand, faster to type it out.