Creating Buttons

Buttons are a form of symbols in Flash which are really cool to look at and add the much needed element of interactivity to your web pages and presentations. So without any further small talk lets get down to making a simple button.

Button States

Each frame in the Timeline of a button symbol has a specific function

The Up state — represents the button whenever the mouse is not over the button i.e. nothing is happening to the button.
The Over state — represents the button's appearance when the user moves his mouse over it.
The Down state — represents the button's appearance when it is clicked by user.
The Hit state — defines the area that will respond to the mouse. This area is invisible in the movie. The state is responsible for the actions which the designer may associate with the button.

To create a button:

1	Go to Insert > New Symbol, or press Ctrl+F8.
2	In the Symbol Properties dialog box, enter a name(eg. buttun) for the new button symbol and choose Button as the Behavior option. Flash will then switch to symbol-editing mode. The Timeline header changes to display four consecutive frames labeled Up, Over, Down, and Hit. The first frame Up being a blank keyframe.
3	To create the Up state button image, use the drawing tools, import a graphic, or place an instance of another symbol on the Stage. Here we shall start by drawing a simple circle.
	One can use either a movie clip or graphic symbol in a button, but cannot use another button in a button. Use movie clip symbols if you want to create an animated button.
4	Click the second frame, labeled Over, and choose Insert > Keyframe. The button image from the first frame appears on the Stage. Change the color of the button using the paint bucket tool.
5	Change the button color for the Over state. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the Down frame and the Hit frame.
	The Hit frame is not visible on the Stage, but it defines the area of the button that responds when clicked. By default if you do not specify a hit frame, the objects in the Up state are used as the hit frame.
6	When you've finished, choose Edit > Edit Movie, and then drag the button symbol out of the Library to create an instance of it in the movie.