No fiddle

timstring

This code doesn't work in my script. It does not work at JSFiddle. This is the source code from Safari:

<head>

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="dispatch.css">
 <style>
generic {
	width: 225;
	height: 32px;
	margin:auto;
	text-align:center;
	font:18px/18px Helvetica, sans-serif;
	color:blue;
	line-height: 24px;
	font-size:14px;
	font-weight:900;
}

</style>

<title>Processing Request</title>
</head>

<body>
</body>
</html>

<div class="generic">Sulphur Springs, TX<br></div>

what simple thing is this neophyte overlooking?

Bonesnap

What does "doesn't work" mean? I am slightly puzzled as to why you have a link to an external style sheet but also decided to write internal CSS.

One thing I notice is that you forgot the unit of measurement on the height (I assume you intended to put "px").

timstring

even simpler -- I forgot to put the "dot" in front of the style name.