Here are a handful of other CSS techniques for creating things like transparency and realistic hover effects.

CSS Star Rating Part Deux
This tutorial builds off a former tutorial and shows how to create star ratings that will show ratings that aren’t an exact integer (like 3.5).

Two Techniques for CSS Transparency
This tutorial shows two techniques for creating transparency with CSS, including one that uses CSS3 and a lower-tech version.

Placing a CSS background image horizontally right on an h2 using a span element
Learn how to add a background image to a heading 2 element and have it perfectly aligned on the right side of the text while keeping the default block element behavior.

Snazzy Pullquotes for Your Blog
Learn how to add a background image to a heading 2 element and have it perfectly aligned on the right side of the text while keeping the default block element behavior.

Cross-browser semi-transparent backgrounds
Here’s a comprehensive tutorial for creating semi-transparent backgrounds with CSS that includes a hack to make it work with IE6.

How to: CSS Large Background
This tutorial provides various CSS examples on how you can create a large background site using either a single or double images.

Creating Thumbnails Using the CSS Clip Property
The

property in CSS is useful for clipping images and creating thumbnails without having to create additional files. This trick can be used to create square thumbnails, or to create other kinds of thumbnails without actually duplicating files on the server. Here is the rundown.

CSS image replacement with… images!
Sites with dark backgrounds lend themselves well to white or light-colored logos. The result can be nice on screen, but if the site is printed, there can be undesirable results: either the logo doesn’t show up, or if it was saved as a transparent gif, it shows with jagged pixelated edges where the edges are meant to blend in with a dark background color. This article present a method that uses a print-optimized image in the html, and CSS to swap out the image with a screen-friendly one.

Text overlay with CSS
The idea is just to overlay some text over an image, but as blocks that stick out from the left with an even amount of padding all the way around the variable-length text.

Internet Explorer & CSS issues
This article covers a variety of techniques for fixing issues with CSS rendering in Internet Explorer.

Disabling Deprecated HTML Using CSS
This tutorial shows how to disable any deprecated HTML your clients might try to use when updating their site by using CSS.