I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of us geeks around ...
Gradients need images, but you can, however, set the opacity of elements.
For some fun, try
script.aculo.us - web 2.0 javascript. Fantastic JavaScript library with a range of Effects that are really easy to use:
Code:
new Effect.fade('name_of_html_element'); JavaScript is a great start in the world of code, you can see everyone else's work for inspiration, it's technically pretty easy and it can evolve to as much complexity as you can handle.