 <p>As this is my first responsive design, I have had to use media queries to adapt the css based upon the screen/viewport size. It appears that only the "media="'screen'" and "media='print'" declarations work in IE7 and IE8 meaning my declaration of : will not work. This is the reason my background-images are not displaying because IE7 and 8 do not understand this declaration and therefore ignore it. Thanks for the other valid answers guys but they are things I already knew about and had tried.</p>