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Wonderful World of Image Maps

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SERVER-SIDE IMAGE MAPS

Require a program that resides on your WWW server

• How do they work?
  1. User clicks on the image
  2. Browser requests address (associated with that area of the document) from the server
  3. Server sends back the information
  4. Browser then requests the new document
  5. Server sends back the document
  6. Browser displays the new document

• Pieces/Parts
  1. HTML file with the anchor (link) and image tags
  2. Image file
  3. Map file

 

CLIENT-SIDE IMAGE MAPS (CSIM)

Require a browser that supports CSIMs

• How do they work?
  1. User clicks on the image
  2. Browser requests the new document (address information contained in HTML document)
  3. Server sends back the document
  4. Browser displays the new document

• Pieces/Parts
  1. HTML file with the image and map tags
  2. Image file

 

PROS & CONS OF CSIMs

• Pros
  • Number of server hits reduced, links are faster
  • Destination links can be shown as cursor moves over the image map
  • Image maps can be created and tested locally without need of server
  • Image maps are not server-dependent, making them portable

• Cons
  • Not all browsers support them
    (so you may want to have both available in your HTML document)

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Download Map This! A free image map utility for Windows 3.1, 3.11 and '95.

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UK FACTS Center
Comments to authors: Rene Hales or Trish Smith

All contents copyright (C) 1995, Rene Hales and Trish Smith. All rights reserved.
Revised: July 18, 1996