usemap (HTML attribute)
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | Saf1.3+ | Op9.2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Depr. | Version |
|---|---|
| No | HTML 2 |
Example
The usemap
attribute below references a map named
"sections":
<map name="sections">
<area shape="circle" coords="70,84,51" href="/default.html"/>
<area shape="rect" coords="25,180,125,280" href="/about.html"/>
⋮
</map>
⋮
<form>
⋮
<input type="image" src="submit.jpg" alt="Submit your details"
usemap="#sections"/>
</form>
Description
The
usemap attribute, which is only applied to an
input of type "image", allows
the author to specify a different outcome depending on the area of the
image that the user clicks on.
Value
A reference to the map’s
name attribute takes the form of an
# character followed by the "name" of
the map:
usemap="#sections"
Compatibility
| IE | 5.5 | Partial |
|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Partial | |
| 7.0 | Partial | |
| Firefox | 1.0 | Partial |
| 1.5 | Partial | |
| 2.0 | Partial | |
| Safari | 1.3 | Partial |
| 2.0 | Partial | |
| 3.0 | Partial | |
| Opera | 9.2 | Partial |
This element type isn’t particularly well supported and has limited practical value.
In all the browsers that were tested, clicking
on the input image caused the form to submit, but with additional
x and y coordinates appended to the form data, which
suggests that the browsers were at least recognizing the notion that the
image was being used as a map. Firefox and Opera were the only browsers
that additionally honored the coordinates in the associated
area element.
The HTML specifications regarding this attribute were vague as to its use, and its usage has been extremely limited. As such, it has been dropped from the HTML 5 draft.
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