diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css
index 8b543a2..b8cf127 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/css/notebook.css
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ div.input {
 
 div.input_area {
     color: black;
+    border: 1px solid #ddd;
 }
 
 div.input_prompt {
@@ -227,13 +228,22 @@ div.output_subarea {
 /* The rest of the output_* classes are for special styling of the different
    output types */
 
-div.output_stream {
+/* all text output has this class: */
+div.output_text {
     text-align: left;
     color: black;
     font-family: monospace;
 }
+
+/* stdout/stderr are 'text' as well as 'stream', but pyout/pyerr are *not* streams */
+div.output_stream {
+    padding-top: 0.0em;
+    padding-bottom: 0.0em;
+}
+div.output_stdout {
+}
 div.output_stderr {
-    color: darkred;
+    background: #fdd; /* very light red background for stderr */
 }
 
 div.output_latex {
diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js
index d5763f7..71eb219 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/static/js/codecell.js
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ var IPython = (function (IPython) {
         
         // If we got here, attach a new div
         var toinsert = this.create_output_area();
-        this.append_text(json.text, toinsert, subclass);
+        this.append_text(json.text, toinsert, "output_stream "+subclass);
         this.element.find('div.output').append(toinsert);
     };
 
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ var IPython = (function (IPython) {
 
 
     CodeCell.prototype.append_text = function (data, element, extra_class) {
-        var toinsert = $("<div/>").addClass("box_flex1 output_subarea output_stream");
+        var toinsert = $("<div/>").addClass("box_flex1 output_subarea output_text");
         if (extra_class){
             toinsert.addClass(extra_class);
         }