styling text

I am styling text with css but how do I get a different colour background for just the text. I.e. the area of the text a different colour not the actual background of the page.

Hope this makes sence.

 

<span style="background-color: #ffff00;">Yellow background</span>

 

... style="background-color:#yourcolorcode;">

 

<p class="color">The text you want with a background color</p>

.color {
background: #c00;
}

This will give the text a red background.