I am using RGBA to create a transparent background that overlays on top of an image. Works just fine. My questions is this: Is there a way to \"soften\" the edges of the box to
It depends on what type of fading you are looking for.
But with shadow and rounded corners you can get a nice result. Rounded corners because the bigger the shadow, the weirder it will look in the edges unless you balance it out with rounded corners.
http://jsfiddle.net/tLu7u/
also.. http://css3pie.com/
You can use CSS gradient - although there are not consistent across browsers so You would have to code it for every one
Like that: CSS3 Transparency + Gradient
Gradient should be more transparent on top or on top right corner (depending on capabilities)
Another option is to use one of my personal favorite CSS tools: box-shadow.
A box shadow is really a drop-shadow on the node. It looks like this:
-moz-box-shadow: 1px 2px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.5);
-webkit-box-shadow: 1px 2px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.5);
box-shadow: 1px 2px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.5);
The arguments are:
1px: Horizontal offset of the effect. Positive numbers shift it right, negative left.
2px: Vertical offset of the effect. Positive numbers shift it down, negative up.
3px: The blur effect. 0 means no blur.
color: The color of the shadow.
So, you could leave your current design, and add a box-shadow like:
box-shadow: 0px -2px 2px rgba(34,34,34,0.6);
This should give you a 'blurry' top-edge.
This website will help with more information: http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/css-box-shadow/