hi, i'm missing something, i want to use the MERCURY theme because i like having the channel strips a specific color (ie pro tools) but what i want to change right now is the TIME RULER BACKGROUND, i can't get it to work, i see it in the dropdown under THEMES however when i click it the entire theme reverts back to TUNGSTEN. can someone please tell me what i'm doing wrong? thanks

You are not doing anything wrong unfortunately. The only theme that allows coloured strips is Mercury. As soon as you apply and edit and save as a new name, the coloured strips go. I've even tested this by not making a change and saving as a new name, and it goes.

I changed my Time Ruler Background color without issues, so I'm a bit confused.  If you give me more details I may be able to help.

thank you both for answering, what's strange is i was able to change the tic marks color also assist line that runs vertically down the tracks view but not the time ruler background when using the mercury theme.
maybe it's just one of "those things" or maybe it's a bug that the cakewalk techs can figure out? 
i'm going to keep playing around with it.
thanks again

I can't find neither Mercury nor Tungsten in my folder. Where are you looking?

im looking at the drop-down menu edit/preferences/themes 

I always open my themes in the Standalone theme editor. When I click on open it takes me to the folder where all the themes are stored and I don't have mercury or tungsten in that folder. That's why I was asking? In order to edit a theme, you have to edit it in the theme editor. Are you also opening the theme editor from within sonar?

I would assume the Timeline background is not changeable within Sonar (Preferences>Colors). It must be changed in Theme Editor and then saved as a new theme.
 
Q: Is Mercury itself unchangeable? Can it be used as a basis for a new theme?

I think it is, because some users have made variations of it. I just don't know where the original is kept. It's not in my themes folder. Maybe it's a template in the editor when you open the editor within Sonar.