diff --git a/doc/bugs/sidebar_is_obscured_by_recentchanges.mdwn b/doc/bugs/sidebar_is_obscured_by_recentchanges.mdwn
index 90bb800a5..140669ea1 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/sidebar_is_obscured_by_recentchanges.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/sidebar_is_obscured_by_recentchanges.mdwn
@@ -9,6 +9,14 @@ For example, my wiki's [front](http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3431/wiki/) and [ne
 
 to <code>local.css</code> to get the border and make sure that the RSS feed's grey title didn't show through on the news page.)
 
+> Hmm the background color setting seems like a change it makes sense to make to
+> style.css .. done.
+> --[[Joey]]
+
 Unfortunately, the [recentchanges](http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3431/wiki/recentchanges/) page doesn't look so nice - the sidebar appears below the recentchanges list.
 
 I don't understand why the sidebar is appearing below the recentchanges inline, but above the news inline.
+
+> I don't see the problem here in firefox 3. The sidebar is at the top of
+> both pages. However, it might have to do with the recentchanges page
+> itself using floating elements to build up the table-like display. --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/style.css b/doc/style.css
index 0e3bfb3e6..c7dc070cd 100644
--- a/doc/style.css
+++ b/doc/style.css
@@ -205,6 +205,8 @@ div.recentchanges {
 	margin-left: 40px;
 	margin-bottom: 40px;
 	padding: 2ex 2ex;
+	background: white;
+	color: black !important;
 }
 
 /* outlines */
@@ -272,6 +274,8 @@ input#openid_url {
 	margin-bottom: 1ex;
 	padding: 1ex 1ex;
 	border: 1px solid #aaa;
+	background: white;
+	color: black !important;
 }
 
 /* Provided for use by template plugin for floating note boxes. */
@@ -283,6 +287,8 @@ input#openid_url {
 	padding: 1ex 1ex;
 	border: 1px solid #aaa;
 	width: 25%
+	background: white;
+	color: black !important;
 }
 
 /* Used by the popup template and for backlinks hiding. */