Described are various methods and apparatuses for fine grained control of z-order elements in a presentation. A structure is defined containing user interface elements and an order is defined for rendering such user interface elements. It is desired that some elements may need to be rendered out of the defined order, therefore a raise user interface element is defined allowing for one or more user interface elements to be defined to be rendered out of the normally defined order. User interface elements may something to be presented on a display and may also include program code for defining behaviors.