mep00 - 2:18 pm on Feb 4, 2004 (gmt 0)

with a background image

This won't work if the browser isn't displaying images, while background color might.

Another possibility is to set the font size very small and resize it with CSS.

Server side scripting is probibly the best solution. Besides browser sniffing, an easier solution might be to see if the browser supports the mime type for CSS.