Allan,

>Here's another checkbox anomoly...
>Regardless of the setting of enabled or readonly I can't seem to change the color of the 'checkmark' (eg to blue).

Check out the UT Magazine article by Edward McDermott on page 7 of the October 2002 issue
http://www.levelextreme.com/Magazine/October2002/Page7.asp
The article will reveal everything that you wanted to know about "The Lowly Checkbox". 20 ways to court your lover, so to speak.