On Mon, 2 Nov 1998, Rebecca Olmsted wrote:

> Subject: Image Map Tools
> 
> My question is : What graphics tools do people like to use to create the
> coordinates in an image map graphic (one where a hyperlink is a part of the
> graphic)?  
Any image editing tool will work to create the graphic.

> I have created a graphic to use for navigation.  It's a gif.  Front Page is
> my authoring tool, and the navigation works fine with Internet Explorer,
> [snip] but I am assuming that I must "do something" to the graphic - i.e.
> delineate the hot spots and save the file, including the coordinates.
No, this is not the case.

The fact that Microsoft FrontPage saves image maps in a format that is
only viewable by Microsoft FrontPage is not a suprise to me.  Microsoft is
constantly pushing things down a "Microsoft Only Web" path... and has
been for the past few years.  To create Client Side Image Maps (commonly
referred to as CSIM), you should use a program designed to create Client
Side image maps, and not one designed to make Microsoft image maps :)

One such program is called "MapThis" and can be found at:
http://cws.internet.com/programs/mpths131.exe

Save your image map as a CSIM, and if you are worried about compatibility
with older browsers, or browsers that don't support CSIM, create a server
side .map file as well.

Once you have saved the map, you will see the HTML in your output file..
that is the proper way to create a CSIM.. to use it, you must give it a
name:

<MAP NAME="mymapname">
<AREA blah blah>
<AREA blah blah>
</MAP>

Then, to use it:

<IMG SRC="whatever.gif" ISMAP USEMAP="#mymapname" BORDER=## WIDTH=## HEIGHT=##>

If you want to use both the server side and the client side map:

<A HREF="http://url.to.server.side/image.map"><IMG
   SRC="whatever.gif" ISMAP USEMAP="#mymapname" BORDER=## WIDTH=##
   HEIGHT=##></A>

The "ISMAP" attribute tells the browser that it is dealing with an image
map.  Some browsers will assume this attribute if the USEMAP attribute is
found.. others won't.. so include them both.

The "USEMAP" attribute tells the browser that it is not only an image map,
but a CSIM, and where to look for the map code. (You could include a url
to a file on the server for the value if you want.. as long as only one
<MAP> tag is in the file.  Ex:  USEMAP="http://www.blah.com/mymap.csim"
The "#mymapname" simply means "Look for a map named 'mymapname' that was
defined in this HTML source file"

Hope this helps..

Pat Farabee

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