Hi!
It’s most likely because your theme overrides it with a stronger CSS rule. You can solve both of these issues via very simple custom css codes, like:
[html]
/* This is the search phrase input */
/* these are only sample values, change them to whatever you like */
input.orig {
color: #FFFFFF !important;
font-size: 14px;
text-align: left;
/* ..etc */
}
/* These are the keyword colors */
p.asp-try a {
color: blue !important;
}
[/html]
You can use/edit this code to your needs and add it to your themes custom css file, or into the search plugins “Theme options -> Custom CSS” field.