First, you forgot leading hashes in last two declarations.
Second, in your html #continue_btn
is input element, but in your css you define background for some nested a
tag which doesn't (and can't, since input is not block but inline element) exists inside your input field.
Third, I you should remove strange 0 0
declaration in background
properties, it doesn't fit into scheme.
And fourth, _img/button_sprite.png
points to wrong direction. Url for your case is ../_img/button_sprite.png
.
Finally, I think you need something like this:
#continue_btn {
background: url(../_img/button_sprite.png) no-repeat -13px -11px;
width: 229px;
height: 43px;
}
#continue_btn:hover {
background: url(../_img/button_sprite.png) no-repeat -14px -58px;
width: 229px;
height: 43px;
}
#continue_btn:active {
background: url(../_img/button_sprite.png) no-repeat -14px -106px;
width: 229px;
height: 43px;
}