Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and computer readable storage media for rendering web pages with partial transparency. In response to a user request for a web page, the user-desired web page is retrieved. One or more content elements of the retrieved web page are analyzed to identify background elements and foreground elements. The web page is analyzed to determine whether transparency is appropriate for background elements. If transparency is appropriate, the background elements are rendered as at least partially transparent, such that a wallpaper is at least partially visible to a user through the background elements, and the foreground elements are rendered as opaque. If transparency is not appropriate, the foreground and background elements of the web page are rendered as opaque.