There seems to be some confusion here between Opaque, Transparent, and Translucent...

"Opaque" means that no light goes through it. Like a brick wall for example.

"Transparent" means that the light goes through it, and it doesn't diffuse the image. Like a window. It can however, allow for a color shift, or a decrease in brightness, so tinted glass is still considered transparent.

"Translucent" means that the light goes through it, but that the image is diffused. Like a shower door, or frosted glass for example.


So there ya go. Hope that clears things up a little bit. I don't blame anyone for not understanding the difference, simply because these are some of the most commonly misused words in existence. I just have an art background so I pay attention to this stuff. =P

As a side note, back when I used to work in the sign industry, we almost always used something we called "Milk Plex" as a substrate for backlit signage. Basically, it's acrylic sheet (Plexiglass, Acrylite, etc.) that looks kinda like milk. It's translucent, with very high diffusion, and very low opacity. It's perfect for almost all backlit applications, because you get a nice bright image, and the brightness is very consistent across the entire image. (Note also that the term "Milk Plex" is probably specific to the sign industry)

So, buttons with the properties of milk plex would be cool, but the downside would be that they would look white, even when not lit up.

What I think would probably work better, would be smoke or color tinted translucent buttons. Again, what we're looking for is high diffusion, and low opacity.

OK, enough rambling!

Those buttons look awesome! I want a set!