[funkydunk]

This could be done as follows:

code for categories.tpl:

{* $Id: categories.tpl,v 1.19 2003/11/11 14:02:32 svowl Exp $ *}
{capture name=menu}
{if $active_modules.Fancy_Categories ne ""}
{include file="`$fancycategories_config.modules_path`/fancy_categories.tpl"}
{else}
{if $config.General.root_categories eq "Y"}
{section name=cat_num loop=$categories}
<font class=CategoriesList{ $categories[cat_num].categoryid }>{ $categories[cat_num].category_name|escape }</font>

{/section}
{else} {section name=cat_num loop=$subcategories}
<font class=CategoriesList{ $categories[cat_num].categoryid }>{ $subcategories[cat_num].category_name|escape }</font>

{/section}
{/if}
{/if}


{/capture}
{ include file="menu.tpl" dingbats="dingbats_categorie.gif" menu_title=$lng.lbl_categories menu_content=$smarty.capture.menu }

This will then say for each category item it will look for a style in the style sheet of CategoriesList123 or whatever the category id is.

Then simply create a style sheet class for each category id as follows:

.CategoriesList1{
FONT-SIZE: 12px;
COLOR: #330000;
}
.CategoriesList2{
FONT-SIZE: 12px;
COLOR: #FF9900;
}
.CategoriesList3{
FONT-SIZE: 12px;
COLOR: #FF3300;
}

etc etc etc .............

hth