Change the colour of my submenu in spry-UI-1.7

Question

hello,
as the title says, how do i change the background colour of my submenu (the one that collapses)  and the hover action background.
i created it with the widget browser, but found out this colour doesnt work so well.
in my spry-UI-1.7>css>Menu>basic i have two .css files
SpryMenuBasic.css
this is the css:
@charset "UTF-8";
/* SpryMenuBasic.css - version 0.5 - Spry Pre-Release 1.7 */
/* Copyright (c) 2010. Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. */
/* This is the css for a basic Spry 2 MenuBar.
* The first section is basic layout, and should in general not need to be  modified.
* The final section of this file specifies images to use for arrows for the menu. These
* are either down or right-pointing as required by horizonatal or vertical layouts. You
* can either replace the referenced images with your own, or you can modify these rules to
* point to your won images.
* These rules are supplemented by those specified in the OAM file for inclusion in the html document,
* or alternatively, the file SpryMenuBarBasicSkin.css which is included with this widget. */
/* Resets for ul and li in menus */
.MenuBar  .MenuBarView, .MenuBar  .SubMenuView {
display:block;
list-style:none;
margin:0;
padding:0;
/*** Layout Rules for Basic Menu ***/
/* Top Level MenuBar
* Because we float the MenuItemContainers in the MenuBar, we have to make sure the menubar wrapper expands to hold them all.
* The simplest way is to float the widget wrapper
.MenuBar { /* overridden by .MenuBarVertical version of this rule */
float:left;
width:100%;
.MenuBarVertical {
float:left; /* Used to make menubar shirink to fit contents */
width:auto;
/* SubMenus */
.MenuBar .SubMenu {
display:block;
position:absolute;
top:0;
left:-10000px; /* By default, all non-visible submenus are hidden by moving way to the west */
padding:0;
/* First level of submenus - pulls down from horizontal menubar, right from vertical */
.MenuBar .SubMenuVisible{ /* overridden by .MenuBarVertical version of this rule */
top:100%;
left:0px;
.MenuBarVertical .SubMenuVisible {
top:0px;
left:100%;
/* All submenus below level 1. All pullout to the right */
.MenuBar .SubMenu .SubMenuVisible {
display:block;
position:absolute;
top:0px;
left:100%;
/* MenuItems, MenuItemLabels, and MenuItemContainers */
.MenuBar .MenuItem {
display:block;
text-decoration:none;
.MenuBar .MenuItemLabel {
display:block;
.MenuBar .MenuItemContainer {
position:relative;
white-space:nowrap;
float:left; /* overridden by .MenuBarVertical version of this rule */
display:block;
margin:0;
padding:0;
.MenuBarVertical .MenuItemContainer {
float:none;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemContainer {
float:none;
/* Layout Rules needed by IE6 - excluded from other browsers */
.SpryIsIE6 .SubMenu .SubMenu {
width:100px;
height:1%;
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar .SubMenuVisible .SubMenuVisible {
width:auto;
/* End Layout section */
* Arrows - This section specifies arrow images for a submenu dropdowns in Basic SpryMenu.
.MenuBar .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:none;
/* For all arrows used here, we depend upon the image to push itself away from right edge, or the user can add right padding to the MenuItem */
.MenuBar .MenuItemWithSubMenu .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuDown.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.MenuBar .MenuItemHover.MenuItemWithSubMenu .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuDown.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.MenuBarVertical .MenuItemHover.MenuItemWithSubMenu .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuRight.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.MenuBarVertical .MenuItemWithSubMenu .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuRight.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemWithSubMenu .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuRight.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemHover.MenuItemWithSubMenu .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuRight.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
/* IE6 rules for Arrows */
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar .MenuItemWithSubMenuHover .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuDown.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBarVertical .MenuItemWithSubMenuHover .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuRight.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemWithSubMenuHover .MenuItemLabel{
background-image:url("images/ArrowMenuRight.gif");
background-position:right center;
background-repeat:no-repeat;
and i got "SpryMenuBasicSkin.css"
with this css:
@charset "UTF-8";
/* SpryMenuBasicSkin.css - version 0.5 - Spry Pre-Release 1.7 */
/* Copyright (c) 2010. Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. */
/* This is the skinning css for a basic Spry 2 MenuBar.
* You can use this CSS as a starting point for skinning an instance of the SpryMenuBar widget */
/* The rules in this file  assume the following widget classes for menu layout:
MenuBar - Applies to all menubars - default is horizontal bar, all submenus are vertical. 2nd level subs
  and beyond are pull-right.
MenuBarVertical - vertical main bar; all submenus are pull-right.
These should be set as the 'WidgetClass' in the widget constructor. If the menu is to be vertical, pass both names,
space-delimited. For example: WidgetClass: "MenuBar MenuBarVertical".
You can also pass in extra classnames to set your desired top level menu bar layout. They only apply to horizontal menu bars:
MenuBarLeftShrink - The menu bar will be horizontally 'shrinkwrapped' to be just large enough to hold its items, and left aligned
MenuBarRightShrink - Just like MenuBarLeftShrink, but right aligned
MenuBarFixedLeft - Fixed at a specified width set in the rule '.MenuBarFixedLeft', and left aligned. 
MenuBarFixedCentered -  - Fixed at a specified width set in the rule '.MenuBarFixedCentered',
and centered in its parent container.
MenuBarFullwidth - Grows to fill its parent container width.
eg: WidgetClass: "MenuBar MenuBarLeftShrink"
.MenuBar  {
background-color:#cccccc;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; /* Specify fonts on on MenuBar and subMenu MenuItemContainer, so MenuItemContainer,
MenuItem, and MenuItemLabel
at a given level all use same definition for ems.
Note that this means the size is also inherited to child submenus,
so use caution in using relative sizes other than
100% on submenu fonts. */
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 16px;
font-style: normal;
padding:0;
border-color: #ffffff #ffffff #ffffff #ffffff;
border-width:0px;
border-style: none none none none;
/* Caution: because ID+class selectors do not work properly in IE6, but we want to restrict these rules to just this
widget instance, we have used string-concatenated classnames for our selectors for the layout type of the menubar
in this section. These have very low specificity, so be careful not to accidentally override them. */
.MenuBar br { /* using just a class so it has same specificity as the ".MenuBarFixedCentered br" rule bleow */
display:none;
.MenuBarLeftShrink {
float: left; /* shrink to content, as well as float the MenuBar */
width: auto;
.MenuBarRightShrink {
float: right; /* shrink to content, as well as float the MenuBar */
width: auto;
.MenuBarFixedLeft {
float: left;
width: 80em;
.MenuBarFixedCentered {
float: none;
width: 80em;
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;
.MenuBarFixedCentered br {
clear:both;
display:block;
.MenuBarFixedCentered .SubMenu br {
display:none;
.MenuBarFullwidth {
float: left;
width: 100%;
/* Top level menubar items - these actually apply to all items, and get overridden for 1st or successive level submenus */
.MenuBar  .MenuItemContainer {
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
margin: 0; /* Zero out margin  on the item containers. The MenuItem is the active hover area.
For most items, we have to do top or bottom padding or borders only on the MenuItem
or a child so we keep the entire submenu tiled with items.
Setting this to 0 avoids "dead spots" for hovering. */
.MenuBar  .MenuItem {
padding: 0px 24px 0px 0px;
background-color:#cccccc;
border-width:1px;
border-color: #cccccc #ffffff #cccccc #ffffff;
border-style: none solid none solid;
.MenuBar  .MenuItemFirst {
border-style: none none none none;
.MenuBar .MenuItemLast {
border-style: none solid none none;
.MenuBar  .MenuItem  .MenuItemLabel{
text-align:center;
line-height:1.4em;
color:#333333;
padding: 6px 15px 6px 39px;
width: 6em;
width:auto;
background: #cccccc;
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar  .MenuItem  .MenuItemLabel{
width:1em; /* Equivalent to min-width in modern browsers */
/* First level submenu items */
.MenuBar .SubMenu  .MenuItem {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal;
background-color:#ffffff;
padding:0px 2px 0px 0px;
border-width:1px;
border-color: #cccccc #cccccc #cccccc #cccccc;
/* Border styles are overriden by first and last items */
border-style: solid solid solid solid;
.MenuBar  .SubMenu .MenuItemFirst {
border-style: solid solid solid solid;
.MenuBar  .SubMenu .MenuItemFirst .MenuItemLabel{
padding-top: 6px;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemLast {
border-style: solid solid solid solid;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemLast .MenuItemLabel{
padding-bottom: 6px;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItem .MenuItemLabel{
text-align:left;
line-height:1em;
background-color:#ffffff;
color:#333333;
padding: 6px 12px 6px 5px;
width: 7em;
/* Hover states for containers, items and labels */
.MenuBar .MenuItemHover {
background-color: #999999;
border-color: #cccccc #cccccc #cccccc #cccccc;
.MenuBar .MenuItemWithSubMenu.MenuItemHover .MenuItemLabel{
background-color: #999999; /* consider exposing this prop separately*/
color: #000000;
.MenuBar .MenuItemHover .MenuItemLabel{
background-color: #999999;
color: #000000;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemHover {
background-color: #cccccc;
border-color: #cccccc #cccccc #cccccc #cccccc;
.MenuBar .SubMenu .MenuItemHover .MenuItemLabel{
background-color: #cccccc;
color: #333333;
/* Submenu properties -- First level of submenus */
.MenuBar .SubMenuVisible {
background-color: #ffffff;
min-width:0%;  This keeps the menu from being skinnier than the parent MenuItemContainer - nice to have but not available on ie6 */
border-color: #ffffff #ffffff #ffffff #ffffff;
border-width:0px;
border-style: none none none none;
.MenuBar.MenuBar .SubMenuVisible {/* For Horizontal menubar only */
top: 100%; /* 100% is at the bottom of parent menuItemContainer */
left:0px; /* 'left' may need tuning depending upon borders or padding applied to menubar MenuItemContainer or MenuItem,
and your personal taste.
0px will left align the dropdown with the content area of the MenuItemContainer. Assuming you keep the margins 0
on MenuItemContainer and MenuItem on the parent
menubar, making this equal the sum of the MenuItemContainer & MenuItem padding-left will align
the dropdown with the left of the menu item label.*/
z-index:10;
.MenuBar.MenuBarVertical .SubMenuVisible {
top: 0px;
left:100%;
min-width:0px; /* Do not neeed to match width to parent MenuItemContainer - items will prevent total collapse */
/* Submenu properties -- Second level submenu and beyond - these are visible descendents of .MenuLevel1 */
.MenuBar .MenuLevel1 .SubMenuVisible {
background-color: #ffffff;
min-width:0px; /* Do not neeed to match width to parent MenuItemContainer - items will prevent total collapse*/
top: 0px; /* If desired, you can move this down a smidge to separate top item''s submenu from menubar -
that is really only needed for submenu on first item of MenuLevel1, or you can make it negative to make submenu more
vertically 'centered' on its invoking item */
left:100%; /* If you want to shift the submenu left to partially cover its invoking item, you can add a margin-left with a
negative value to this rule. Alternatively, if you use fixed-width items, you can change this left value
to use px or ems to get the offset you want. */
/* IE6 rules - you can delete these if you do not want to support IE6 */
/* A note about multiple classes in IE6.
* Some of the rules above use multiple class names on an element for selection, such as "hover" (MenuItemHover) and "has a subMenu" (MenuItemWithSubMenu),
* giving the selector '.MenuItemWithSubMenu.MenuItemHover'.
* Unfortunately IE6 does not support using mutiple classnames in a selector for an element. For a selector such as '.foo.bar.baz', IE6 ignores
* all but the final classname (here, '.baz'), and sets the specificity accordingly, counting just one of those classs as significant. To get around this
* problem, we use the plugin in SpryMenuBarIEWorkaroundsPlugin.js to generate compound classnames for IE6, such as 'MenuItemWithSubMenuHover'.
* Since there are a lot of these needed, the plugin does not generate the extra classes for modern browsers, and we use the CSS2 style mutltiple class
* syntax for that. Since IE6 both applies rules where
* it should not, and gets the specificity wrong too, we have to order rules carefully, so the rule misapplied in IE6 can be overridden.
* So, we put the multiple class rule first. IE6 will mistakenly apply this rule.  We follow this with the single-class rule that it would
* mistakenly override, making sure the  misinterpreted IE6 specificity is the same as the single-class selector, so the latter wins.
* We then create a copy of the multiple class rule, adding a '.SpryIsIE6' class as context, and making sure the specificity for
* the selector is high enough to beat the single-class rule in the "both classes match" case. We place the IE6 rule at the end of the
* css style block to make it easy to delete if you want to drop IE6 support.
* If you decide you do not need IE6 support, you can get rid of these, as well as the inclusion of the SpryMenuBarIEWorkaroundsPlugin.js script.
* The 'SpryIsIE6' class is placed on the HTML element by  the script in SpryMenuBarIEWorkaroundsPlugin.js if the browser is Internet Explorer 6. This avoids the necessity of IE conditional comments for these rules.
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar .MenuBarView .MenuItemWithSubMenuHover .MenuItemLabel /* IE6 selector  */{
background-color: #999999; /* consider exposing this prop separately*/
color: #000000;
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar .MenuBarView .SubMenu .MenuItemWithSubMenuHover .MenuItemLabel/* IE6 selector  */{
background-color: #cccccc; /* consider exposing this prop separately*/
color: #333333;
.SpryIsIE6 .MenuBar .SubMenu .SubMenu  /* IE6 selector  */{
margin-left: -0px; /* Compensates for at least part of an IE6 "double padding" version of the "double margin" bug */
what is the rule i nedd to change? i think the background colour of the submenu is lightgray #CCCCCC right now, and the hover one is a darker colour.
thanks!

Answer 1

I am sorry to have to point out to you that you have changed SpryMenuBasicSkin.css so much that it is impossible to render any assistance.
To start with, the menubar has an ID of MenuBar, yet in the CSS I only see this referenced as a CLASS as in
.MenuBar  {
background-color:#cccccc;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; /* Specify fonts on on MenuBar and subMenu MenuItemContainer, so MenuItemContainer,
MenuItem, and MenuItemLabel
at a given level all use same definition for ems.
Note that this means the size is also inherited to child submenus,
so use caution in using relative sizes other than
100% on submenu fonts. */
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 16px;
font-style: normal;
padding:0;
border-color: #ffffff #ffffff #ffffff #ffffff;
border-width:0px;
border-style: none none none none;
I would suggest to start again.
Once you have done that, supply a link to your site and we will assist you further.
Gramps