Image maps are very useful when one wants to create a clickable area on an image. It also saves web space because you only have to use one image in stead of multiple. Most use image maps for things like navagation bars, etc. + (read plus) it's really easy. Place this code some where in the page.

<map name="testmap">
<area coords="50,71,113,79" href="link1.html">
<area coords="30,108,69,118" href="link2.html">
<area shape="circle" coords="127,131,24" href="link3.html" target="_blank">
<area shape="poly" coords="17,14, 63,10, 65,30, 16,30" href="link4.html">
</map>

Shape - Defines the shape of the clickable region. there are three shape choices, "rect" (rectangular), "circle" (circular), and "poly" (polygonal). rectangular is the default, so its not neccessary to use.

Coords (Coordinates) - Defines the coordinate points of the region. these x,y points can be found using Photoshop (open up the image and use the Info Palette). 4 rectangles, give the x,y coordinate for the top left and bottom right corners. 4 circles, give the x,y coordinates of the center followed by the radius in pixels (u can find the radius by using the measure tool in Photoshop.) 4 a polygon, give the x,y coordinates for each or the four corners.

Href - Defines what page will appear when the region is clicked. u can also define what window the link will open up in by adding "target="_blank", or any other target attribute.

Now to add the image.

<img src="images/imagemap.gif" width="164" height="155" alt="testmap" border="0" usemap="#testmap">