6.53 and less space on today screen

[Guest Corrigap2]

Just updated to 6.53 and now have less space for widgets etc on the today screen thanks to the new numbers that have replaced the previous 'dash symbols' for the alternative today screens.

I'm wondering if anyone knows how to take the numbers away (never use the other screens) or alternatively make the widgets non-transparent so that I could plonk my digital clock widget on top of them and forget they're there, at present they appear in front of the clock making it partly unreadable.

I'd also be grateful if someone could give me a steer as regards changing the colour of the taskbar (?) at the very bottom of the screen, it's currently red and isn't very nice in my opinion.

Grateful for any and all help!

Corrigap