  Studies of debris disks around white dwarfs (WDs) have focused on infrared
wavelengths because debris disks are much colder than the star and are believed
to contribute to the spectrum only at longer wavelengths. Nevertheless, these
disks are made of dust grains which absorb and scatter near-UV and optical
photons from the WD, leaving a fingerprint that can be used to further
constrain disk properties. Our goal is to show that it is possible to detect
near-UV and optical effects of debris disks in the star + disk integrated
spectrum. We make theoretical calculations and discuss the necessary
observational conditions to detect the near-UV and optical effects. We show how
these effects can be used to infer the disk mass, composition, optical depth,
and inclination relative to the line of sight. If the IR excess is due to a
disk, then near-UV and optical effects should be observed in only some systems,
not all of them, while for dust shells the effects should be observed in all
systems.
