Question: I would like to change the image next to the search box to a styled input button.

Do I need to create a new delegate control to do this? Can I do this with css, if so how?

This is the standard search UI  

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bRp3m.jpg)

This is the desired css button look  

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/t59MW.jpg)

Answer: 
You can either replace the `DelegateControl` (if you have farm access)

<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms463169.aspx>

```
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSearchArea" runat="server">
    <SharePoint:DelegateControl runat="server" ControlId="SmallSearchInputBox" Version="4"/>
</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>

```

Or you can override the `PlaceHolderSearchArea` in your page layouts (if you can only have site access)
```
/*Search Box Styles*/
.s4-search input.ms-sbplain{margin-top:5px!important; background:url(../images/search_left.png) no-repeat; border:0 none !important; height:16px; padding:4px 2px 2px 9px; color:#666; font-size:.85em; font-style:normal;}
.s4-search .ms-sbgo{padding-top:5px;}
.s4-search .ms-sbgo a{margin-top:5px; background:url(../images/search_btn.png) no-repeat; width:27px; height:22px; display:block; }
.s4-search .srch-gosearchimg, .s4-search .ms-sbgo span{display:none; }
.adminBar .ms-sbrow a, .ms-sbcell{margin:0; padding:0;}

```