How can i edit sharepoint "Search" font color

In Internet Explorer, hit F12 to pull up the Developer Toolbar.  Under the HTML tag you will see a mouse cursor button.  Select it and then select the Search text.  It should now have a blue border around it.  In the developer toolbar you will see the actual HTML code being sent to the browser.  This should give you the element name to address in your CSS to override the color.  When doing so, be sure to add "!important" to override the core CSS.

For eg:

#searchelementname
{
color: #FFFFFF !important;
}

Under the HTML tab* (not tag)

CodeProject has a great tutorial on how to use the IE Developer Toolbar that you might like: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/applications/IE_dev_toolbar.aspx

I tryed but it didnt help , How can i edit & save it in sharepoint designer "TextBeforeTextBox"  or  css

<div class="search">
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSearchArea" runat="server">
<SPSWC:SearchBoxEx id="SearchBox" RegisterStyles="false" TextBeforeDropDown="search" TextBeforeTextBox="<%$Resources:cms,masterpages_searchbox_label%>" TextBoxWidth="100" GoImageUrl="<% $SPUrl:~sitecollection/Style Library/Images/Search_Arrow.jpg %>"
GoImageUrlRTL="<% $SPUrl:~sitecollection/Style Library/Images/Search_Arrow_RTL.jpg %>" UseSiteDefaults="true" DropDownMode = "HideScopeDD" SuppressWebPartChrome="true" runat="server" WebPart="true" __WebPartId="{}"/>
</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
</div>

thank you chapmanhw,

in sharepoint designer when i select class search link it leads to core band.css file.
then
.search .ms-sbcell
{
color:white!important;
}
so color: white already exist & i just put !important after that then it worked for me thanks for the post.

Great, glad it worked out for you.