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?