Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

The gradient thing may be aka "feathering".

I've seen some darn fine tutorials, actually, though it's been a couple years since I looked; have you tried locating them via web design mags, or looked for tutorials for Fireworks? It's a bit hard to find Fireworks stuff on the Adobe site, but the product is geared more toward developers than artists. (Photoshop is geared toward artists / designers.)