I've tried your advice Bill to no avail... I tried putting $templatedir/ in front of the background image url in the css file but that makes the background images not show at all (don't think it can handle the $templatedir var in a css file)...if my css image url is:
background-image: url(images/tile2.jpg);
then that path should be relative whether the sever is secure or not, and no non-secure items warning should ever display...but it isn't, and that is an STS thing...I have templated many osc sites manually and never run across these path problems using that method....and they are coded to "osc standards"...I admit it is a bit more work when changes to layout are made and that is why I tried STS...but in my experience and the long run it has been much simpler, faster and stable for me to do the layout templating manually...for sure it is possible that something in the configuration of my shops is not quite kosher (I've set up 30+ osc stores)...but layering a complicated app with more complications does not make my job simpler...lol...
I'm glad you took the time to write your mod and that it works well for many of those who use it...not everyone is a programmer and STS attemps to address this...it just hasn't worked out well for me...
thanks for your time
ryan