I suspect you may be editing the wrong file. If you're using Firefox, get the Firebug plugin for it and use it to trace your html/css to the exact file and line you need to edit. You can even use it to temporarily change it in-context to preview it and make adjustments until it's just the way you want it.

If you're using IE (8 or above, I think), you can use its built-in developer tools to do the same thing. Just hit F-12 to turn it on.

Hi and thanks. I mainly use chrome at the moment and did have a look with the inspect element command at one point but perhaps i did not trace the actual line correctly so will have another go

Think I have found the correct part of css but it is a call to an image file, header.jpg rather than a piece of code with a colour number so does this mean that in order to change header background this whole file would need to be re-done each time and saved with a new colour in order to change header background?

I'm not sure what you mean by "each time", since I thought you were just trying to change one color. Do you mean you want different colors for different pages?

At any rate, that would be one way to do it. That is, create another version of header.jpg that is the color you want. Just about any photo/image editing program should be able to handle that.

Or, if you just want a solid color, you can just use CSS to create an area the same size and position where the background image is now, then make its background color whatever you want, using CSS properties.

Thanks for replies kateD. by 'each time' i just meant what if i wanted to try lots of different colours..seems laborious to have to do a new header.jpg but of course i note you say can be done simpler by using CSS. I am just trying to change a few basic colours without messing around with the code too much.