The color of compost will vary according to the raw materials used to build the pile. In past years, we have made compost that was 80% shredded maple tree leaves. It was great compost, but it was always brown, not black. If you add enough horse manure to the pile, you will surely end up with black compost. Most soils will benefit from being amended with compost. If your local soil is already high in humus and/or organic material, then adding compost might not be a good idea. Here in Madison, our local soil can be described as sticky clay, and it is much improved with compost tilled in.

Compost is always brown, varying from dark brown to deep dark brown that almost looks black. The types of materials can be a factor in the color as can the amount of moisture in the mix.

It depends on your starting material ... if I have mostly mesquite chippings and leaves, it's medium brown.

Coffee grounds, cat litter and kitchen scraps = dark brown

what if my pile is done cooking but not fully broken down,
it looks good when wet but when it dries out it looks like dry
tabacoo.

Some materials will end up a different color than others. Don't worry about it.

If your compost is "done cooking" but not fully "broken down" that means that there was not enough Nitrogen, or moisture, or perhaps those particles were too large, in the mix. Perhaps remixing and adding some moisture and a source of N might help the bacteria digest more.
Perhaps spending some time with this Composting Tutorial will be of some help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Composting Tutorial

Have you also added the occasional dirt to your compost pile? I did that as a way of adding microorganisms (but also because most of the instructions I read say to add some dirt without necessarily explaining the reasons why).

And yes, if when you are using from your pile, there are large pieces that you can still recognize or think it can have another go at being composted, then just toss it back onto another pile or the new pile you are starting.

How often should you turn it.I turn about once a week is that to much.

Shawn - I turn my piles about every two years!

I'm using the "slow and cool" method because I'm lazy and have the space. A bin gets built and filled, which can take from a few days if I'm doing yard cleanup or several months if it's just kitchen scraps and such.

Then it sits, with a drip tube keeping it moist, until I'm ready to break it down and sift it. Anything not decomposed (the dry stuff around the edges) gets dumped into the next bin for another go at it.

I'm using 1" plastic poultry netting outside the wire now, because the ^&!@#$ birds were digging oput the base looking for bugs. It also keeps the small stuff inside the bin.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wire compost bins

Once a week is probably too much, at least it's a lot of extra work for little gain.

If you can post a pic or two it would help immensely.