In reply to Jordan.

It's not a fairytale world at all. This is easily solvable by setting up proper conventions for theme styles. I've outlined it in detail here: http://mor10.com/using-css-classes-fields-wordpress/

The quick summary: Themes (or WP core) should ship with basic classes for image borders. That should go without saying actually. Any theme should have a CSS rule for 1px black and 1px grey borders to address the exact issue you are referring to. That way the user can simply apply a class like "border-black" and a border is applied. Themes should also ship with custom border colors that match with the theme where required, and this should be clearly documented.

As for margins that's a whole other issue: If the user is mucking around with image positioning using margins there is something seriously amiss somewhere. Either the user doesn't understand how to position images properly (which means more training or clearer instructions are required) or the theme is not set up to handle the user scenario or the user is trying to do something that shouldn't be done from a design / layout perspective.

The ability to hard-code inline styles onto images is not a solution but a problem as became apparent when the feature was removed. It gives the user a false sense of control that causes problems down the road when the theme is switched or something else happens on the site. Providing the user with inline style capability is counter to the interest of that user, not the other way around.

I'm working on a completely different type of solution to this problem and if it is successful I will submit it to core for inclusion. I would love input on it once it's beyond the idea stage.