Thanks to Bob Osola's javascript solution to the problem of Internet Explorer for PC not displaying PNG's correctly, I can now use them in the mostly-PC user environment I develop for. I have to say, it's been a freeing experience! Now, instead of simulating transparent effects by clever slicing and dicing, I simply layer transparent gifs on top of each other.

An example using soft glowing text layered above running lights (an animated gif) is shown HERE.