Re: Server-side image map coordinates [Was: Re: Request from Content working group]

On Tue, 20 Jun 2000, Ian Jacobs wrote:

> Whether they generate it or whether they should are, as usual,
> distinct questions. From the HTML 4.01 specification, section 13.6.2
> 
>    User agents that do not offer the user a means to select 
>    specific coordinates (e.g., non-graphical user agents that rely on 
>    keyboard input, speech-based user agents, etc.) should send the 
>    coordinates "0,0" to the server when the link is activated.

This also seems to have been the long-standing situation in practice,
as far as I could tell (unlike some other specialised areas where the
specs get widely disregarded!)

My notes on this topic aren't up-to-the-minute, but might still be
useful,  http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/alt/imgmap.html

There's at least one server-side imagemap evaluator that can use
the server-side imagemap for constructing a text menu when it seems
that it's being called from a text-mode browser.

Of course with the widespread deployment of client-side imagemaps,
dealing effectively with server-side ones has seemed less urgent. 


There's a somewhat different scenario with INPUT TYPE=IMAGE (which 
can also be considered to be a kind of server-side imagemap).  I have
some earlier notes on that in the same area,
http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/alt/type-image.html

Hope this is useful (I'm not a specialist in these matters, just an
interested dabbler.)

best regards