CSS Question

Hi, I've been trying to brush up on my HTML and CSS knowledge, and
also to learn JavaScript, XML, etc., because I'm interested in
becoming a website developer myself.  I was born almost totally-blind
as well as physically disabled, and I think I'd be good at creating
accessible, attractive, standards-compliant websites from scratch
using code alone.

I have a question regarding CSS.  I want to put gradient backgrounds
in my web page, but I want to do it using code instead of an image
background.  I've tried to find ways of doing this, but I'm not having
much luck.  Is there a way in CSS that I can do this?  If not, I have
a code suggestion for gradient backgrounds that might work in CSS3:
for a vertical gradient
{background-color-gradient:top-#8191ae;middle-#a15bda;bottom-#8191ae};
or for a horizontal gradient
{background-color-gradient:left-#8191ae;center-#a15bda;right-#8191ae};
or for a diagonal gradient
{background-color-gradient:top-left-#8191ae;middle-center- 
#a15bda;bottom-right-#8191ae}.

If this would work in the future, please let me know, and also please
let me know if there's currently a valid way to create gradient
backgrounds without using images.

Also, can you please tell me what's the most current set of free
tutorials for Web2.0-compliant HTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript etc.?  I've
been using www.w3schools.com to improve my code knowledge, but I don't
know if W3Schools has the most up-to-date codes.

You can reach me by replying to this e-mail.  Thanks, and take care.
-- 
María Carmen C. Cruz
Access-r-ease - www.EasyAccessories.net.
Tetra Society of North America - www.tetrasociety.org and www.tetragta.org
Catch my blog at http://CruzViewz.blogspot.com.