tip: dim & disable buttons

Flash buttons can be disabled and remain visible. They can also be made invisible. Both of these attributes are controlled with ActionScript.

When a button is not visible, it is also disabled, so you should not use both actions at the same time.

What Flash doesn't do naturally is change the appearance of a button to make it appear non-functional. This is a nice feature for users, because then they can simply see that a particular button is not available. They do not need to mouse over it to find out whether it works.

Open this SWF to see four buttons that become dim, or "grayed out," after being clicked.

Download the FLA to see how two buttons (on two layers) work together to produce the effect (which is admittedly a kludge).