RE: Transparent absolutely positioned boxes overlapping

I have not heard nor read anything convincing me that IE's implementation regarding transparency is a "bug".

CSS2.1 9.9.1 states:

"The default behavior of the background is to allow boxes behind it to be visible."

In the reference to 14.2.1 (cited as where "the answer is found") the phrase "to make the underlying colors shine through" is not surprising language when the subject is background colors, but to suggest that this settles the matter definitively is to basically say that a recommendation addressed primarily to presentation settles all questions regarding bevavior.

It seems to me that in other regards the visibility of a box implies that the contents of that box are presented to the user.  If those contents are interactive, then the user can interact with them.  Why in this case the visibility of a box means something else escapes me.

Matthew.van.Eerde@hbinc.com wrote:
  Pyro wrote:
  >
  (http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/depth_chart/index.jsp?c_id=stl)
  > ...
  > should the hyperlinks of the underlying boxes function inside the
  space of
  > an overlapping box. 

  No.  You reference CSS2 9.1.1, but I think the answer is found in
  CSS2 14.2.1:
  'background-color'
  ...
  This property sets the background color of an element, either a
  <color> value
  or the keyword 'transparent', to make the underlying colors shine
  through.

  That is, transparency is a purely VISUAL phenomenon.  The background
  of the overlying box (the one with greater z-index) forms an
  obstruction to the underlying boxes.  This obstruction is
  transparent, so you can see through it, but it's still there, so you
  can't click through it.

  In this respect, Firefox's interpretation is accurate, and Internet
  Explorer's is a bug.