LaTeX - requst for help

[mattp]

I'm trying to change major-section headings to be white text on a black panel. I'd like the panel to be as long as the text, rather than automatically filling the width of the page/column.

Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way, but I've got:


\renewcommand\section{\@startsection{section}{1}{\z@}
{24pt plus 2pt minus 2pt} % preskip
{12pt plus 2pt minus 2pt} % postskip
{\Huge\textcolor{white}\colorbox{black} }
} % style
between \makeatletter and \makeatother

but I get

! Argument of \colorbox has an extra }.
<inserted text>
\par
l.46 \section*{Section Heading}


Removing that re-definition, there is no syntax error, and the command is well-formed. Google has found me http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=extrabrace but I have no idea what makes a command robust nor how to preserve parameters (i.e. the section name) if I make use of \protect

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Comments

Not a programmer, but...

[kelemvor.livejournal.com]

...have you tried replacing

{\Huge\textcolor{white}\colorbox{black} }
} % style

with

{\Huge\textcolor{white}\colorbox{black}
}} % style

?

Having been beating my head against the wall that is VBA for a while, I have learned that sometimes the seemingly pointless things work (such as Mid(text, 1, 6) working where Left(text, 6) doesn't).
*Prepares for scathing replies*

[emperor]

I'd post this question to the comp.text.tex newsgroup.

I do quite a bit of LaTeXing, but not this sort of thing, sorry :-/

[mattp.livejournal.com]

People still use Usenet? ;-)
Good idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-lyly/]

Pardon me.
But WOO for Sigur Ros.