Using Image Maps

An image map describes a special graphic, which contains a set of clickable links to other web pages. For example, using an image map of Ireland, each county could link to an individual page when clicked. In the example below, each area could be a "hot-spot" which links to an individual page.

So clicking on any "text" in the graphic above would bring you to the relevant page.

You may sometimes hear the term "Client-side". "Client-side" simply means that the map processing happens in the client’s browser. "Server-side" maps are more complex and must be processed by the server. We will limit our tutorial to the more popular and efficient "client-side" image map.

Tip: A popular use for an image map is to make a graphical menu (in contrast to a text-only menu) which contains links to each page or section in a site. This graphic can appear on each page, but is loaded from cache on all but the first.