Re: specificity and user style sheets

/Jonathan Chetwynd/:

> body {background:black; color:white;}
> 
> however whilst there expectation might be that this would provide a 
> universal solution to their reading difficulties, in reality it achieves 
> almost nothing...

You need to use !important declarations:

     body { background: black !important; color: white !important }

For more details you may read the "Cascading" [1] section of the CSS 
specification. The importance order given in ascending order of 
precedence:

    1. user agent declarations
    2. user normal declarations
    3. author normal declarations
    4. author important declarations
    5. user important declarations

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/cascade.html#cascade

-- 
Stanimir