can anyone help,i have watched some you tube tutorial and it highlights the page to change the page colour which is what i want to do.when it prints it prints white not the colour i have selected in document properties.I try to highlight the page document as shown in the tutorial but nothing highlights so i can fill the stroke and change the page colour,so it prints the colour i want not a white page????

Draw a rectangle, set no outline, and the preferred background colour for the fill at the fill panel -Ctrl+Shift+F-.
Resize it to the right format you want.
Set no rounded corners, preferably convert it to a path by pressing Shift+Ctrl+C.
Move it to the bottom by pressing End.
Adjust the position.
Then resize the canvas at the document properties panel by pressing Shift+Ctrl+D, where you set resize page to selection.

What you see as the document canvas does not exist in svg. It's only a convenience of sorts within inkscape. Likewise document colour is only for looks during work but doesn't print as such. Gridlines also don't print.