You can also draw the image online using an appropriate graphics package. Figure 17 Comparison of Two Clickable Images Locating the Clickable Areas To decide where to place the clickable areas, or hotspots , it helps to have a printed copy of your graphic on which to draw them. Then, determine the coordinates of each area. You can use circles, rectangles, polygons, and points to identify the clickable areas. The area you are marking determines the shape that you use.
Hotspots are usually the most prominent or interesting parts of the graphic.
In the example of the flags, you could mark each flag as a hotspot to link to information about that country. You could also mark a cross on a flag as a hotspot to link to information about the historical use of crosses on national flags. Before you create a map file, determine the type of image map program that resides on your web server. The format of your map file will vary depending on the program type. To create the file, first determine the coordinates then specify the URLs for each region.