hi thanks for the quick reply - i've been starting to add images urls to the css recently (with very impressive results...and much easier than adding them to templates).
So i thought i'd leave the css with the background image attached but
add a white backgrd to the home.tpl (or similar one) to make the text stand out
if you look at
http://www.krimzoncastle.co.uk/xcart/customer/home.php
and imagine that red cloth background with black / very dark, red small text on (its fine against the white table background front-end but invisible at the admin end.
I found the text class which controls the offending invisible text - but if i make it white / light which is good for the admin end - it's then invisible for the front end.
I suppose i could ditch the red background....but the clients like it.
Which .tpl does the admin generally use which i could plonk a white backed table in ?
thanks
chris