Then when I go to the other CSS field where you put in the rules, what goes there? I want to make the width:550px
Are you referring to the place in the Appearance tab where you enter your custom CSS?
Here are a couple guesses: First, try to add !important at the end of your class. This will force it to override anything else that may be affecting it. For example:
.text{width:550px !important;}
My other guess would be to uncheck "Load default theme" and see if that makes any difference.
Sorry about the delay in responding. If you've already figured this out, could you post the solution? Thanks!