Image maps allow you to put hyperlinks into graphics images. If your viewer clicks on the picture, the browser connects to another HTML page. Image maps are often used for top-level indexes on homepages.

There are two kinds of image map techniques - server-side and client-side. Server-side image maps use CGI bin scripts that run on your Web server. Client-side image maps are an HTML 3.0 feature, and they are implemented in newer browsers.

Since image maps are so useful, most servers include a CGI script to handle them. CERN servers have htimage (see CERN htimage Documentation) and NCSA servers have imagemap. You need to ask your Internet Service Provider if they already have a copy of these scripts on the server. Then you need to create three things: an image file, an image map file that specifies the coordinates of clickable regions in the image, and an HTML file with a link to the image and a link to the image map file.

Client-side image maps include the coordinates of the clickable regions directly in the HTML page that links to the image. There is no map file and there is no CGI script. This is much simpler, but it only works with browsers that support HTML 3.0. See Netscape's HTML 3.0 Extensions for detailed information.

Image maps are easy to create. Add interactive graphics to your Web site today!

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