It is always a good idea to separate style from content using css, so I'd prefer this: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;

my $q = new CGI;
print $q->start_html(    -title=>'Your page',
                        -style=>{'src'=>'/css/default.css'}, 
                    );                   
#
# yada yada yada
#
                  
print $q->textarea( -name => "bar", -class => "inked" );
print "\n";

[download]
of course you need a separate css-file: 
.inked {
 background: #E0E0F0;
 border-width: 1px;
 border-style: solid;
}

[download]

In reply to Re: Re: Background color for a cgi textarea by neniro
in thread Background color for a cgi textarea by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.