Link with image inside - html

Question

I am struggling with image inside a link. I don't know hot to make the first link (with image) be the same size as other links in paginations. I also don't know how to align them ?
.content .pagination a {
text-decoration: none;
color: #717171;
border: 1px solid #c0c0c0;
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
-moz-border-radius: 3px;
border-radius: 3px;
padding: 3px 8px;
margin: 0 1px;
background-color: #fff;
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#fff), to(#ededed));
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
}
.content .pagination a.prev {
padding: 11px;
position: relative;
vertical-align: middle;
background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAYAAAAICAYAAADaxo44AAAABGdBTUEAAK/INwWK6QAAABl0RVh0U29mdHdhcmUAQWRvYmUgSW1hZ2VSZWFkeXHJZTwAAAB4SURBVHjaYvj//z8DDBcWFqYBcTuIzQgiQKCoqCgNSM1kgAArsASyYEhICIMVEDB/+vTJDMjfiCSYBWSuZ7KxsdGFamd49OjRMiA1HcQGGWV5DAjWrFkDk0/v6+ubBbM8Eyg3DUnSnAHJuSDJ/1u2bAEy/5sBBBgAv6VOHKw5pxYAAAAASUVORK5CYII=) 8px 7px no-repeat;
border: 1px solid #d9d9d9;
line-height: 0;
font-size: 0;
color: transparent;
}
HTML code:
<div class="pagination">
‹
1</div>

Answer 1

Are you talking about this ? :
<img src="path">
<img src="path">
</div>

Answer 2

May be the easier way to get that is to use an unicode character
CSS
.pagination a {
text-decoration: none;
color: #717171;
border: 1px solid #c0c0c0;
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
-moz-border-radius: 3px;
border-radius: 3px;
width: 18px;
padding: 3px 8px;
margin: 0 1px;
background-color: #fff;
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#fff), to(#ededed));
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
background-image: linear-gradient(top, #fff, #ededed);
}
.pagination a.prev:before {
content: "\03c";
}
fiddle
If you are interested in this technique, shapecatcher can be a valuable resource