further, i found that applying the "transparent" bg color to some of the CSS options bookie has laid out messed up the tables.
when i applied it to everything that "required" it (according to the validation warnings), the tables seemed all screwy -- not abiding by their defined cells. instead of color 1, color 2, color 1, color 2 going across, it was 1, 2,2,2,2,1
