while experimenting with the sample transparency color code \definecolor [transparentred] [r=1,t=.5,a=1] \definecolor [transparentblue] [b=1,t=.5,a=1] \definecolor [solidyellow] [y=1,t=1,a=1] \starttext \startTEXpage ~This is some sample text that goes behind the rectangles\hskip-80mm \blackrule[width=18mm,height=10mm,depth=10mm,color=solidyellow]\hskip-6mm \blackrule[width=18mm,height=20mm,depth=1mm,color=transparentred]\hskip-6mm \blackrule[width=18mm,height=10mm,depth=10mm,color=transparentblue]\hskip-6mm \blackrule[width=18mm,height=20mm,depth=1mm,color=solidyellow]\hskip27mm \stopTEXpage \stoptext i get the intended result. if i change the yellow t value to .99 \definecolor [solidyellow] [y=1,t=0.99,a=1] some green layer pops up. as this is all about software, there is a reason to this. it cold be the OSX preview program too, of course. can someone explain to me ? :-) .F