Server-Side Imagemaps

kryberg has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have a complicated legacy program written mostly in perl (with a little postscript and fortran) that I am trying to improve. It accesses multiple databases and displays in text and graphics real-time data. One of the graphics is a server-side image map that shows all the data collection sites. I would like to keep it a server-side imagemap rather than convert to client-side but I would like alt tags for each clickable area on the imagemap. Is there a way to program alt tags with perl for a server-side image map?

I've done some searching and haven't found anything that says it cant' be done, but I haven't found an instance of it being done either.

Comment on Server-Side Imagemaps

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Re: Server-Side Imagemaps by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Oct 07, 2002 at 15:38 UTC
The simplest way would be to use both. Add the ALT descriptions to the AREA tags of the MAP block clientside and have both the ISMAP and USEMAP tags on the image. That said, I can't really see any advantage (except maybe legacy browser support for those that dont support client-side maps) in not moving to client side maps completely. The transition is simple enough. If you really can't use a client-side MAP, then you could play with overlaying bits of the base image with transparent gifs that have ALT tags, but that would be far harder to arrange and probably less well supported than using a client side MAP. Cor! Like yer ring! ... HALO dammit! ... 'Ave it yer way! Hal-lo, Mister la-de-da. ... Like yer ring!	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Server-Side Imagemaps by zigdon (Deacon) on Oct 07, 2002 at 14:58 UTC
It's been a while since I looked at any image maps, but I think what you're asking cannot be done. If an image map is stored server-side, it means the calling page really doesn't know anything at all about it - clickable areas included. The only way to get the ALT tags would be to use a client-side map. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong, if anyone knows a technique to do this... -- Dan	[reply]