Image Maps

Page Length
Graphics
Image Maps

In today's web browser implementations, image maps, the clickable graphics used on web pages, present a rather poor user interface. Unless the image itself has well-delineated "active" regions, there is no clear indication of where a user should click. Having clicked, there is no feedback to indicate that a user's click has been recognized by the browser. (Java-capable browsers may fix both these problems in the future.) The only sure cure with current browsers is to not use image maps! Having said this, and recognizing that:

images add sex-appeal,
image maps can provide a valuable means to navigate a site, and
that having an image map is probably your justification for using a glamorous, not-especially-content-critical image in the first place,

follow these guidelines:

Clearly delineate the click-able regions in an image map.

The navigation bar at the top of many of Sun's web pages have clearly defined rectangular regions.

If possible, make the clickable regions in an image map look like "buttons."

Also in our header bars, the home and search "buttons" look like buttons. We've seen that people will be more apt to identify images as being "clickable" if the live areas really do look like buttons.

This example from USA TODAY'S public on-line site is an excellent illustration of both of the last two guidelines. (current)

Explain image-map ambiguities.

If there is any ambiguity about where to click on an image map, or what the destination of the links will be, describe the actions required and the effects of following the link to your audience.

Provide alternate text links elsewhere on the page for image-map destinations.

This helps the people using text-only browsers, those who choose to browse with their images turned off, and those of us who might not be able to figure out what your image is supposed to do. If there are a large number of image-map destinations, and including links to all of them force using short link descriptions, you might be better off moving the list to another page.

Purposes
Audience
Links

Page Length
Graphics
Image Maps

Navigation
Security
Quality

Netiquette
Content
Selling

Language
Java