import time

import pygame
import pygame.font
from pygame.locals import *

pygame.init()

window = pygame.display.set_mode((500, 200), SRCALPHA, 32)

font = pygame.font.SysFont("Vera.ttf", 40)
testsurf = font.render("testing alpha blending", True, (250, 0, 0, 25))
# has no effect
# testsurf = testsurf.convert_alpha()

# with an alpha of 0 why do we see this??
window.fill((0,250,0,0))
print "window's alpha (not per pixel) is ", window.get_alpha()

window.blit(testsurf, (20, 20))

# sometimes have to do this twice?  double buffering?
pygame.display.flip()
pygame.display.flip()

time.sleep(5)