Inserting curves into a:hover?

[MagSafe]

Hi there,

This isn't to important, but i'm wondering if anyone knows of a way to insert 2 images onto either side of a link when a user hovers over it.

So for example, you would have normal a:link properties, such as background: #fff; ... but then when a user hovered over the link a:hover would have a new background colour and then 2 curves (images) so it would look like the link was inside a circular enclosure.

I thought of just putting in a background image but each link would change in size so there would be no way in knowing the size required for the image. Ideally setting the left and right border with images is what i'm after, but that won't work as css doesn't allow it.

Thanks,

Steven.

 

[MagSafe]

The links will be read in from a database that will be managed externally, so i'm not to sure that would be the best idea...

Hmm, i might have to give the idea a miss, i thought at first the background image would stretch automatically, but then remembered it will only repeat itself, although ... if i were to create an image that was really long wouldn't it compress into the correct size for a small link?