Microsoft Office Live – How to Change Background Color

Depending on the design and color combinations used on a web site,
I sometimes prefer to have a very light background for the site’s web
pages – something similar to the background color in Figure 1.

Figure 1: I like light-colored page backgrounds

The problem with Office Live Small Business, however, is that you can
either have no (i.e., white) background color or you can have the
default background color that your chosen color scheme imposes upon
you. The default background colors are mostly too dark for my liking –
something like the background color in Figure 2.

Figure 2: But the default backgrounds are usually dark

Fortunately, it’s quite easy to change the background color by altering your site’s style sheet. Here’s how you do it

1. Activate Advanced Design Features on your web site. (Or better yet, read the entiretutorial on advanced design features.)
2. Go to Site Designer and click the Style sheet button on the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 3.

   
   Figure 3: The Style Sheet button in Site Designer

3. Check the Apply custom CSS code to my Web site checkbox.
4. Cut the following markup and paste it in the little editor, shown in Figure 3, that pops up when you click the Style button.

   body { background:#F4F4F4; }

   
   Figure 4: Office Live’s Stylesheet Editor

   If you’ve already added some CSS markup, as it has been in Figure 3,
   paste the new markup after whatever is displayed in the window.

5. In the markup you just pasted had the color of my choice. To change it to a color you like, change #F4F4F4 to the value of your chosen color.
6. Click OK.
   The editor pop-up window will close and you’ll return to Site Designer.
   Notice that the your pages now have a background of your choice.