Help with buttons - transparent background?

[Iconoclast]

Hi guys, I've implemented a number of buttons on my flash website that the users can interact with (I've got a contact form with clear/send buttons, as well as links to other parts of my site, etc.).

What I've noticed is that when I select the button and turn it into a symbol by pressing F8, it's only making the text itself the button, not the area around it. Basically it means that when you're trying to click a button you've got to point the mouse just right over top of the text, because if it's not right on top of part of a letter, it won't let you click it as a button.

I've tried manually editing the buttons and adding background rectangles, but those look like garbage against the background image I'm using...I've also tried creating additional layers within the button to mask them, but that didn't seem to work either (unless I was doing something wrong, but as far as I know it should have worked). Is there a way to highlight a rectangle behind the text and add it to the button, but have it transparent so you only see the button text, yet when you hover your mouse over the button, as long as you're within the rectangle area you can still click it and have it work?

Does anyone know? Can anyone help me? Thanks!

[Medyman]

You have the right idea. Select those background rectangles that you have and make them transparent. You can do this in the properties panel where you pick the color. In the top right of the color dialog box, you'll see a field to enter the transparency.