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<< Even less elegant, yet graphical as in your original approach: color the
1-pixel GIF file the identical color of the background of the page so that
it blends in rather than overlying the page. You may also have to futz
around with the properties of the GIF, depending on how your authoring
software imports it.>>
Keep in mind that some users set their browsers to use a specific background
color, overriding the page settings. If your users do this, the GIF may no
longer be transparent.
I've set my browsers' default background colors to something unusual. That
way, when I preview HTML pages I've written, I notice immediately if I've
forgotten to set the page background value. It also reveals HTML pages
written by other folks who don't take the default background into
consideration. <g>
