diff --git a/inc/public/class.dc.template.php b/inc/public/class.dc.template.php
--- a/inc/public/class.dc.template.php
+++ b/inc/public/class.dc.template.php
@@ -1585,15 +1585,17 @@
 	size			(sq|t|s|m|o)	#IMPLIED	-- Image size to extract
 	class		CDATA		#IMPLIED	-- Class to add on image tag
 	with_category	(1|0)		#IMPLIED	-- Search in entry category description if present (default 0)
+	no_tag	(1|0)		#IMPLIED	-- return source url for CSS background image, no html tag (default 0)
 	>
 	*/
 	public function EntryFirstImage($attr)
 	{
 		$size = !empty($attr['size']) ? $attr['size'] : '';
 		$class = !empty($attr['class']) ? $attr['class'] : '';
+		$no_tag = !empty($attr['no_tag']) ? $attr['no_tag'] : '';
 		$with_category = !empty($attr['with_category']) ? 'true' : 'false';
 		
-		return "<?php echo context::EntryFirstImageHelper('".addslashes($size)."',".$with_category.",'".addslashes($class)."'); ?>";
+		return "<?php echo context::EntryFirstImageHelper('".addslashes($size)."',".$with_category.",'".addslashes($class)."', '".$no_tag."'); ?>";
 	}
 	
 	/*dtd
diff --git a/inc/public/lib.tpl.context.php b/inc/public/lib.tpl.context.php
--- a/inc/public/lib.tpl.context.php
+++ b/inc/public/lib.tpl.context.php
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	# First post image helpers
-	public static function EntryFirstImageHelper($size,$with_category,$class="")
+	public static function EntryFirstImageHelper($size,$with_category,$class="",$no_tag="")
 	{
 		global $core, $_ctx;
 		
@@ -395,7 +395,11 @@
 		}
 		
 		if ($src) {
-			return '<img alt="'.$alt.'" src="'.$src.'" class="'.$class.'" />';
+		  if ($no_tag == '') {
+		      return '<img alt="'.$alt.'" src="'.$src.'" class="'.$class.'" />';
+		    } else {
+		      return $src;
+		    }
 		}
 	}
 	
@@ -440,4 +444,4 @@
 		return false;
 	}
 }
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>