Column Image?

I have the HotVortex template for joomla 1.6 running locally right now and I love it. However, I have a few general questions regarding the columns.

I have attempted to enter the image path in the style selector for my hotvortex template and it reverts back to #ffffff. Is there a way to use an image in place of a color for both the right and left colomns?

Also I have noticed that the column height is based on the article height and my column wont adjust to size. For example when using an accordion type list it flows over and doesn't adjust like the article does, can we change that?

Finaly I have also noticed that the modules in the column positions do not look the same as the others (ie advert, user5,etc.) is there a suffix code to have it match?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

To make that parameters effective you must select "Custom style". For other questions you have we will need your link.

Sorry,
I do have it set to custom, I have tried the following paths

images/
/images
url (../images

every time I leave the box it goes back to #ffffff, Im not sure if the validation on the field is set to color code only??

Well that field should be a color. You can not enter image path there (I did not quite understood what you want in your first post).

If you want to add/change background image you can do it by editing:
\templates\hot_vortex\css\template_css.php

Add your overrides at the bottom of that file in pure css.

body {
background:url('...