diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 2293fcdc..cdf69d76 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ module ApplicationHelper
       end      
       content_tag("div",
         content_tag(
-          options[:header_tag] || "h2", lwr(:gui_validation_error, full_messages.length) + " :"
+          options[:header_tag] || "span", lwr(:gui_validation_error, full_messages.length) + ":"
         ) +
         content_tag("ul", full_messages.collect { |msg| content_tag("li", msg) }),
         "id" => options[:id] || "errorExplanation", "class" => options[:class] || "errorExplanation"
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/base.rhtml b/app/views/layouts/base.rhtml
index 7f29327e..2b9619f2 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/base.rhtml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/base.rhtml
@@ -138,8 +138,10 @@
 	</div>
 	
 	<div id="content">
-		<%= content_tag('div', flash[:error], :id => 'flash', :class => 'error') if flash[:error] %>
-		<%= content_tag('div', flash[:notice], :id => 'flash', :class => 'notice') if flash[:notice] %>
+	    <div id="flash">
+		  <%= content_tag('div', flash[:error], :class => 'error') if flash[:error] %>
+		  <%= content_tag('div', flash[:notice], :class => 'notice') if flash[:notice] %>
+		</div>
 		<%= yield %>
 	</div>
 	
diff --git a/public/images/alert.png b/public/images/alert.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 7cc6e4ae..00000000
Binary files a/public/images/alert.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/public/images/false.png b/public/images/false.png
index 09e7d88f..e308ddcd 100644
Binary files a/public/images/false.png and b/public/images/false.png differ
diff --git a/public/stylesheets/application.css b/public/stylesheets/application.css
index 732d0275..fec62b92 100644
--- a/public/stylesheets/application.css
+++ b/public/stylesheets/application.css
@@ -315,36 +315,6 @@ table.list tbody th {
     color: #777;
 }
 
-/********** Validation error messages *************/
-#errorExplanation {
-  width: 400px;
-  border: 0;
-  padding: 7px;
-  padding-bottom: 3px;
-  margin-bottom: 0px;
-}
-
-#errorExplanation h2 {
-  text-align: left;
-  font-weight: bold;
-  padding: 5px 5px 10px 26px;
-  font-size: 1em;
-  margin: -7px;
-  background: url(../images/alert.png) no-repeat 6px 6px;
-}
-
-#errorExplanation p {
-  color: #333;
-  margin-bottom: 0;
-  padding: 5px;
-}
-
-#errorExplanation ul li {
-  font-size: 1em;
-  list-style: none;
-  margin-left: -16px;
-}
-
 /*==========  Drop down menu  ==============*/
 div.menu {
   background-color: #FFFFFF;
@@ -696,24 +666,27 @@ padding-left: 26px;
 vertical-align: bottom;
 }
 
-/***** Flash messages ****/
-#flash {
+/***** Flash & error messages ****/
+#flash div, #errorExplanation {
     padding: 4px 4px 4px 30px;
     margin-bottom: 16px;
-	font-size: 1.2em;
+	font-size: 1.1em;
 	border: 2px solid;
 }
 
-#flash.error {
-    background: url(../images/false.png) 8px 50% no-repeat;
+#flash div.error, #errorExplanation {
+    background: url(../images/false.png) 8px 5px no-repeat;
 	background-color: #ffe3e3;
 	border-color: #dd0000;
 	color: #550000;
 }
 
-#flash.notice {
-    background: url(../images/true.png) 8px 50% no-repeat;
+#flash div.notice {
+    background: url(../images/true.png) 8px 5px no-repeat;
 	background-color: #dfffdf;
 	border-color: #9fcf9f;
 	color: #005f00;
 }
+
+#errorExplanation ul { margin-bottom: 0px; }
+#errorExplanation ul li { list-style: none; margin-left: -16px;}