If we had a mechanism to extract the strings for translation only the translators wouldn't have to worry about the underlying code behind it.

If you're requesting that all language strings be moved to some kind of master file for ease of translation, then say so! It sounds like the issue of the image path in the css file is unrelated. We've had this discussion before, about how to facilitate internationalization and make template translation easier. There are arguments on both sides, and right now the arguments to keep things the way they are are going to win because we're working up to 2.0 and too much work needs to be done on bug- fixing and functionality-enhancement. I hate tracking changes to templates just as much as you do--probably more, because our custom template is radically different from the default one. I have to look at template changes and translate them not into a different language but into a whole different HTML structure! But I don't know the solution, other than to document modifications much better than we do now. -- Owen