"Hotspot" imaging?

Hey guys,

I was curious bout the image formatting system where you use a hotspot to link the coordinates inside an image as an actual link.

I was wondering whether or not older type browsers and systems will be able to see the hotspots, and whether or not the links will work properly.

I heard that if it's an older version of IE, it won't work.

Anyway, anything you know would help a lot. Ok thanks guys, ttyl and i dun think anyone has beaten my score in pacman. ahha i rule.

Are you talking about image maps? If I recall correctly, those worked at least as far back as IE 4 and NS 3. At least I remember using them back then successfully.

yeah im talking about image maps.

yeah i was feeling the same way, that they worked back with IE 4, but not before that.

How long ago was this?

Is is a big enough problem that we should look for an alternative, or should we just not worry about it.

technically, this is a design question

Yes, it does belong in design. And to answer the question, no, don't worry about it. Use them...they are an excellent tool, and just about everyone will be able to use them just fine.

I don't think you need to worry too much about people viewing your page with a browser too old to use image maps, but I'm not sure how many search engines can follow the links in image maps, so you might want to provide a corresponding set of text links at the bottom of your pages for search engine spiders and the rare visitor who might not be able to use the image map.