well i tried the code below to get the background of the table between opaque and transparent but it still doesnt work
any ideas??
here is my table code:

<DIV STYLE="position:absolute;left:30px;top:360px;width:500px;">
<table style="filter:alpha(opacity=80%);" bgcolor="pink" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border: 1pt dotted pink">

<tr>
<td width="500" height="350">write whatever</td>
</tr>


</table></div>

i'm not sure what you're using the 'div' tags for but for this you won't need them. try the style below in your 'table' tag

style="filter: alpha( opacity:50 );"

it worked...thank you :)