I would like to make a semi-transparent background for use during news posts and things so its possible to still see my website background but also make text easier to read by being on a solid color semi-transparent background.

Not sure if website linking is allowed or not but take my website Sorrow i would like to make the news section in the center of the page have a gray or black semi transparent background so i can still see the dragon wallpaper while reading the text. Is this possible to do?

PS. I used

opacity:0.4;filter:alpha(opacity=40);

and while it does work the problem is the text fades out as well. Something tells me this is going to be a complex operation.

Website linking is definitely allowed here, even encouraged, since it gives me a chance to see your work, and better answer questions.

That said, the best and easiest way to do partial transparency in the browser is with a partially transparent image, rather than doing CSS tricks (which are still pretty wonky).

If you want, use this image as your background image (it's a partially transparent grey image we use in another template).

--
It's all in the reflexes.

Followup, the biggest problem I've experienced with CSS transparency is that the child elements become transparent, too.

To work around that, you need to do a little trickery, but it's immensely easier to just use an image.

--
It's all in the reflexes.