If you're looking to achieve a transparent effect without using CSS3, one option is to create a div and place another div on top of it without nesting them. Keep in mind that the opacity will affect all elements within the parent element with the opacity setting.
For example, you can position a div next to the original div and add a negative margin of -750px to create a layered effect. One div can have an opacity of 1, while the other can have an opacity of 0.1, resulting in the desired visual outcome.
Alternatively, with CSS3, you can simply set the background color of a div with specific RGBA values to achieve the desired opacity effect. For instance:
#fade
{
width:750px;
height:150px;
background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.1);
}
This approach allows you to apply opacity to only the background, while keeping the text at full opacity.
Another method commonly used is creating a small PNG image with a transparent background and setting it as the background of an element. By adjusting the transparency of the image in an editing software like Photoshop, you can achieve the desired effect seamlessly across different browsers (excluding IE6).