Reeper,

Look's like you're a bit frustrated, but I am not very clear on what you want to get accomplished.

if you change:CSSNodeRoot="main_dnnmenu_rootitem" to CSSNodeRoot="someotherclass" in yourskin.ascx file, you must first make sure your skin is actually applied to the site your are looking at (admin>sitesettings->appearance). Next you need to set some properties on your class in the skin.css belonging to your skin (e.g. .someotherclass{color red;}). Then you will notice the text color will have changed.

all of this can be done in your favourite (text) editor without rebuilding the solution. A simple ctrl F5 will do.

Peter