One of the many things that have changed in ActionScript 3 has been the way that Flash handles depths, or the stacking order of objects on the stage. In ActionScript 2, there was a practically unlimited number of depths into which you could place an object. These depths determine what objects appear in front of other objects. An object with a depth of 100, for example, would cover up an object with a depth of 50. But in ActionScript 2, these depths didn't have to be consecutive. In other words, if you only had 2 objects on the stage, you could very well set one of them to a depth of zero and set the other one to a depth of 1000.

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Many Flash beginners stick with using button symbols when creating navigation links for their Flash websites. And why not! That's what button symbols are made for, right?

Well, you can also create buttons using movie clip symbols. Movie clip buttons are basically buttons on steroids. With movie clip buttons, you have much more control over how your button behaves.

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From time to time, I like to showcase Flash work that other people are doing, and it would be impossible to do so without at some point mentioning Homestar Runner. If you've never heard of Homestar Runner, then you're really missing out. Creators Matt and Mike Chapman have built a small empire on a few crudely animated--and insanely hilarious--characters.

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There is very little that will push users away quicker than a bulky Flash website with no preloader. Without a preloader, your users will have nothing to look at but a blank screen until your Flash file has fully loaded. For users with a speedy broadband connection, this may not be much of an issue (depending on the size of your file), but for people with sluggish connections, it's imperative that you give them some kind of indication that everything is loading properly.

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Today's tutorial is Part 4 of a series of tutorials on creating a music player using Flash CS3 and ActionScript 3. The previous tutorials can be found here:

• Using Sound in ActionScript 3.0
• Creating a Volume Slider
• Creating a Pause Button

If you haven't read these tutorials yet, then I strongly urge you to check them out. The Flash file we'll be starting with can be found at the bottom of the Pause Button tutorial.

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