playing with css alpha shading. it's working under netscape 6.2 but for some reason it's fouled under explorer 6... the code should be:

.textbox {
margin: 10px 400px 10px 10px;
padding: 10px;
border: 2px solid white;
background: #333333;
filter: alpha(opacity=75);
-moz-opacity: 75%
}

so if the column background seems to have lost it's transparency for you, that's the explanation. i'm working on it. [thanks erica]