You can switch the tab from Effect or Action to Layer Effect tab quickly by double clicking on the layer effect object in the Timeline window.
You can hide/show this object by checking/unchecking the checkbox next to Name. This is useful to hide a large object temporarily during editing which covers a large movie area so that you can gain access to other objects underneath it.
Each layer effect will have a different properties. The most common ones are colors and transparency.
Use the color box to change the components color and use the Transparency slider to adjust the transparency.