DIAMOND DUST: Web Design
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Transparent Backgrounds
I make no claims to being an expert Web designer. I design Web pages, even whole sites, but I bow to the greater expertise of those around me when it comes to the real "do's and don'ts" of Web design. But quite by accident I experimented with something that I don't see discussed much -- transparent backgrounds.

"What purpose does a transparent background serve?" you may ask. Well, how about for creating a consistent look throughout a site but still giving individual pages their own personality.

Before I lose some of you I might ought to explain what I mean by a transparent background. You've probably all seen those Web pages that have a solid or patterned stripe running down the left (or sometimes right) side of the screen then the rest of the background is a solid color. Generally that is done with a single GIF image a few pixels in height but very wide (say, 600 to 1000 pixels). The stripe may be Red and the larger portion of the graphic may be Beige. Nice effect.

But what happens if you make that "Beige" section transparent? Then whatever color you set for your page background (BGCOLOR=) would become the main color of the screen but you'd still have your Red stripe down the side. Color code your pages but still have your distinctive Red stripe on all the pages. A single graphic serves multiple purposes. Or you could have a graphic that tiles over the whole screen but has "holes" in it that show up as a different color on different pages.

Have you seen this done? I don't recall it myself. Maybe there are some valid reasons for not doing this but I haven't heard them. Obviously as with any page design we are all at the mercies of those surfers who turn off image displays or choose to use their own background and text colors. But what other arguments are there - - pro or con? I'd love to hear from you on this. Write and tell me what YOU think about "transparent backgrounds." Good idea or goofy?

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