diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java
index c5e7be9b4e..377bf3fe45 100644
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/renderers/HTMLRenderer.java
@@ -12,19 +12,16 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 
 public class HTMLRenderer implements Renderer {
 
-    /**
-     * The end of line string for this machine.
-     */
     protected String EOL = System.getProperty("line.separator", "\n");
 
     public String render(Report report) {
-        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer("<html><head><title>PMD</title></head><body>" + EOL+ "<table align=\"center\"><tr>" + EOL+ "<th>File</th><th>Line</th><th>Problem</th></tr>" + EOL);
+        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer("<html><head><title>PMD</title></head><body>" + EOL+ "<table align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"3\"><tr>" + EOL+ "<th>File</th><th>Line</th><th>Problem</th></tr>" + EOL);
         boolean colorize = true;
         for (Iterator i = report.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
             RuleViolation rv = (RuleViolation) i.next();
             buf.append("<tr ");
             if (colorize) {
-                buf.append("bgcolor=\"#00FFFF\"");
+                buf.append("bgcolor=\"lightgrey\"");
                 colorize = false;
             }   else {
                 colorize = true;
