i apologize for posting this again, but it's a cool thing and it got lost in a shuffle about battery life (again!).
I'm on the 21895 Mar 9th MaxManila version of NRG's ROMs and really enjoying it.
i decided to rename the top row of shortcuts to clean up the today screen.
while i was editing the registry links for them, i realized that i didn't actually need a name for these icons as they are self-explanatory, like calendar, google maps, and total commander.
so i deleted the string in the reg key and left it as a blank.
when i restarted HTC Sense, wow, the icons were almost invisible....like having about a 20% opacity.
=D>
i re-edited the google maps icon and entered a " " (space) for it's name. that caused HTC Sense to display the icon with normal opacity and with no title.
so, if you want to see that gorgeous background you're using for a today screen and your shortcuts are obscuring it, follow these steps and make the icons very opaque.
i've attached a pic of my today screen with the calendar icon at normal opacity (because that title is a " "), and google maps, and total commander are very transparent as i've left their titles empty.
marvin