The Code
This user script runs on all pages. It is relatively straightforward. It gets all the table rows (<tr> elements) and then loops through them to set the background color to #ddd or #fff.
Save the following user script as tablestripes.user.js:
// ==UserScript==
// @name Table Stripes
// @namespace http://diveintomark.org/projects/greasemonkey/
// @description shade alternating rows of data tables
// @include *
// ==/UserScript==
var arTableRows = document.getElementsByTagName('tr');
var bHighlight = true;
for (var i = arTableRows.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
var elmRow = arTableRows[i];
elmRow.style.backgroundColor = bHighlight ? '#ddd' : '#fff';
elmRow.style.color = '#000';
bHighlight = !bHighlight;
}