Customize color of GNOME panel

I created the file /home/<user>/.gtkrc-2.0 and inserted the following lines:

style "panel"
{
  fg[NORMAL]               = "#ffffff"#panel txt normal
  fg[PRELIGHT]            = "#ffffff"
  fg[ACTIVE]               = "#ffffff"
  fg[SELECTED]            = "#ffffff"
  fg[INSENSITIVE]            = "#ffffff"
  bg[NORMAL]               = "#ffffff" #Background of switcher and wl fine outline
  bg[PRELIGHT]            = "#ABDBAB"#Mouseover wl
  bg[ACTIVE]               = "#7DAD7D"#Selected wl
  bg[SELECTED]            = "#ADADAD"#Mouseover outline
  bg[INSENSITIVE]            = "#FAFF00"#??
 base[NORMAL]            = "#ffffff"#Background of things like deskbar or 'add to panel'
  base[PRELIGHT]            = "#ffffff"#fine outline on windowlist items
  base[ACTIVE]            = "#ffffff"
  base[SELECTED]            = "#ffffff"
  base[INSENSITIVE]         = "#ffffff"

  text[NORMAL]            = "#000000"
  text[PRELIGHT]            = "#000000"
  text[ACTIVE]               = "#000000"
  text[SELECTED]            = "#ffffff"
  #text[INSENSITIVE]            = "#8A857C"
}
widget "*PanelWidget*" style "panel"
widget "*PanelApplet*" style "panel"
class "*Panel*" style "panel"
widget_class "*Mail*" style "panel"
class "*notif*" style "panel"