Image transparency in The Gimp

As many of you know, I've been a Linux desktop user for about a year now. The only real option for image editing in Linux is the Gimp, and its not a bad program at all. But it sure can be a pain to find some of those common functions you learned in other programs...one example is transparency. If I had Paint Shop Pro in Linux, I'd have that licked right quick, but alas its not available. So after much searching in the menus (its not there), I embarked on a web search. Its not intuitive at all, but here's an easy way I found in an online forum:
First add an alpha channel (Right click --> Layers --> Add Alpha Channel). Make sure you have the color you want transparent set to the background color, then select the background with either "Select by color" (Shift+O) or with the "magic wand" (Z). Cut out the selection (Ctrl+x). Make sure you save it as a file format that supports transparencey (png, gif, etc.)