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Specifying an image map in an HTML document

Image maps require action by the browser software and by the server. The browser recognizes an image map by the presence of the ISMAP attribute in the IMG element. The IMG element must be embedded in an anchor element to tell the browser where to send the request when the user clicks on the image.

  <A HREF="http://www.somesite.com/program-spec/imagemap-spec"
    ><IMG SRC="/images/image.gif" ISMAP><A>

The content of the URL tells the server that the request needs processing by a script and also includes information to be passed to the script. The way this information is encoded depends on the configuration of the server, and details will need to be obtained from the server administrator; however, the URL always follows a pattern. The program-spec component identifies the image map program and may be something like /cgi-bin/htimage, but an alias may be employed to condense this part of the URL. The imagemap-spec component identifies the image map. With the CERN htimage program this will be the pathname of the image map itself. With the NCSA imagemap program it names an entry in the central imagemap configuration file that points to the image map file. If you need information on how to configure the server, refer to Chapter .

Spinning the Web by Andrew Ford
© 1995 International Thomson Publishing
© 2002 Andrew Ford and Ford & Mason Ltd
Note: this HTML document was generated in December 1994 directly from the LaTeX source files using LaTeX2HTML. It was formatted into our standard page layout using the Template Toolkit. The document is mainly of historical interest as obviously many of the sites mentioned have long since disappeared.