Design-Oriented Images

I have a suggestion for CSS.  One of the objectives is to separate 
design from content.  Something that is pretty much only assigned in the 
content (HTML) is images.  This is fine most of the time, as images are 
indeed content.  However, sometimes images are part of the page's 
design, and putting them in the HTML would not be appropriate.  I'm 
aware that you can create a generic element and give it a background 
image in the style sheet.  However, sometimes a design may not require 
the image at all, and it can really clutter up the HTML doing it this 
way, littering the page with empty span tags, for instance.  This is 
especially a problem when using user-selected style sheets.  I think 
that there should be a better way to specify design-oriented images.  
How it would be done, I really don't know.  But if anyone has any ideas, 
I think it could be a productive discussion.

           "Someone is sitting in the shade today
      because someone else planted a tree a hundred years ago."
                                                   - Unknown

~ Dris ~

                                  - Random Signature #14 -