1. That's right. If you set AlphaMap with a png, that label can no longer hook, or be hooked. But, since everything that's hooked takes on the parent's attributes, you can still set AlphaTransparency for the parent - it's all or nothing, though.

2. "!xTaskbarLSBoxHook Taskbar" Unless you've named your taskbar "Taskbar," that should be !xTaskbarLSBoxHook xTaskbar.

3. Not sure about that one, but...

Also, load order matters. Modules that are to be hooked must be loaded BEFORE xlabel. Generally, it's a good idea to always load xlabel last in your theme.rc. (The only situation I can think of where you wouldn't want to, is if you're hooking labels in to xpopup.)

Example:

Wrong order if hooking xTaskbar:

*NetLoadModule xlabel-3.5
*NetLoadModule xTaskbar-1.4.1

Right way:

*NetLoadModule xTaskbar-1.4.1
*NetLoadModule xlabel-3.5