Pneumatic Cylinder for door open/close

Im working on a hobby at home where a pneumatic cylinder (solenoid/mcu controlled) opens and closes a door. Here are the specs:

1. Wooden crate box as container
2. Acrylic 1/4" clear plate as door with mounting bracket at center
3. 750mm pneumatic cylinder to connect to mounting bracket

My question is two-fold:

A. How to make the door slide open and close. I dont want to deal with wheels at the bottom of the door. What other ways could I make the door slide over something, like a well greased rail at the bottom, how should I design that?

B. How to attach cylnder mounting bracket to door. At center or edge of the acrylic plate it doesnt matter, it seems the cylinder would have to be normally-open to have the door closed and contract in order to open. I dont like this mainly because the interior bore of the cylinder will be exposed to the elements 24/7. How else could I design the attachment?

Here is a diagram and pictures...
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