Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 - Manual (Page 352)

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Linking and navigation
Last updated 6/3/2015
Image maps
Note: The user interface has been simplified in Dreamweaver CC and later. As a result, you may not find some of the
options described in this article in Dreamweaver CC and later. For more information, see
this article .
About image maps
An image map is an image that has been divided into regions called hotspots; when a user clicks a hotspot, an action
occurs (for example, a new file opens).
Client-side image maps store the hypertext link information in the HTML document—not in a separate map file as
server-side image maps do. When a site visitor clicks a hotspot in the image, the associated URL is sent directly to the
server. This makes client-side image maps faster than server-side image maps, because the server does not need to
interpret where the visitor clicked. Client-side image maps are supported by Netscape Navigator 2.0 and later versions,
NCSA Mosaic 2.1 and 3.0, and all versions of Internet Explorer.
Dreamweaver does not alter references to server-side image maps in existing documents; you can use both client-side
image maps and server-side image maps in the same document. However, browsers that support both types of image
maps give priority to client-side image maps. To include a server-side image map in a document, you must write the
appropriate HTML code.
Insert client-side image maps
When you insert a client-side image map, you create a hotspot area and then define a link that opens when a user clicks
the hotspot area.
Note: You can create multiple hotspot areas, but they are part of the same image map.
1 In the Document window, select the image.
2 In the Property inspector, click the expander arrow in the lower-right corner to see all properties.
3 In the Map Name box, enter a unique name for the image map. If you are using multiple image maps in the same
document, make sure each map has a unique name.
4 To define the image map areas, do one of the following:
• Select the circle tool and drag the pointer over the image to create a circular hotspot.
• Select the rectangle tool and drag the pointer over the image to create a rectangular hotspot.
• Select the polygon tool and define an irregularly shaped hotspot by clicking once for each corner point. Click
the arrow tool to close the shape.
After you create the hotspot, the hotspot Property inspector appears.
5 In the hotspot Property inspector’s Link box, click the folder icon to browse to and select the file you want to
open when the user clicks the hotspot, or type the path.
6 In the Target pop-up menu, select the window in which the file should open or type its name.
The names of all the frames you’ve named in the current document appear in the pop-up list. If you specify a frame
that doesn’t exist, the linked page loads into a new window that has the name you specified. You can also select from
the following reserved target names:
• _blank loads the linked file into a new, unnamed browser window.
• _parent loads the linked file into the parent frameset or window of the frame that contains the link. If the frame
containing the link is not nested, the linked file loads into the full browser window.