i am creating a site using DW8 and am still trying to get images to display when they are used as css rather than placing the image as i want to write text on top of the image.

this is the css

.gradientBackground {
	background-image: url(images/background.jpg);
	background-repeat: repeat-x;
	background-position: bottom;
	background-attachment: fixed;
}
.menuBack {
	background-image: url(images/base-menu1.jpg);
	background-attachment: fixed;
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
.spacerLeft {
	background-image: url(images/left-side-repeat.jpg);
	background-repeat: repeat-y;
	background-position: top;
}
.spacerRight {
	background-image: url(images/right-side-repeat.jpg);
	background-repeat: repeat-y;
	background-position: top;
}
.baseBackground {
	background-image: url(images/base-menu.jpg);
}

This is the first site ive created using DW8, i used DW MX 2004 for a long time with no problems?

try:

background-image: url(http://www.yourdomain.com/images/base-menu.jpg);

Nahh. the full url is not necessary.

Try writing the rule this way:
.gradientBackground {
background: url(images/background.jpg) repeat-x fixed bottom;
}

Which browser is not showing the images ?

its not working in either browser

tried your suggestion LadynRed but now it just displays the images incorrectly, they are out by 1 pixel but it is noticeable

k.. need to see the rest of your code - css and HTML to figure out why.

Try validating your CSS at w3schools.org