The kind of image map

It roughly divides into an image map and there are two kinds of them. One Server side image map It is the system which says and places a map on WWW server. A map is described to be HTML document by the independent file. Although URL corresponding to the kind of figure, and the coordinates and each figure is described by the map file, the formats differ in specification depending on WWW server program, respectively. In homepage r_[, the image map format of a WWW server program which is called NCSA and CERN and which is used most widely is supported.

Another Client side image map (Below, it is referred to as CSIM (Client-SideImage Map)) It is the system which says and describes a map inside HTML document. Since information, such as a figure and URL, is described by the grammar of HTML and processed by the browser side, CSIM is not dependent on WWW server's kind. Since a map can be embedded at the HTML document itself instead of another file, management also becomes easy. However, since CSIM may be unable to be treated by some browser, cautions are required. Moreover, by the specification of CSIM, only the method of describing a map to HTML file other than the main part of a document, and describing directly inside a document by homepage builder, although a file name and a map name can also be specified and referred to from the main part of a document is supported.