Used to implement a client-side image map. An image map is an image with one or more active regions which are hyperlinks to other documents on the world wide web. The AREA element identifies these active regions, and the documents they link to.
An image map created this way, with the MAP and AREA elements, is called a client-side image map because the client, the browser, decides what document a link will point to.
Another possibility to create an image map is a server-side image map. When the user clicks on a such a map the coordinates of the mousecursor at the time of the click are sent to the server. A program on the server processes these coordinates to a destination link. A server-side image map can be created with the ISMAP attribute of the IMG element. Also you must put a file on the server with the regions of the map. The format of such a file depends on the program processing the map.

Because a client-side image map doesn't use an additional request from the server to execute the link I would prefer to use this in favor of the server-side image map. Another advantage is that the browser can act on the position of the mouse over an active area, to show the address of the link in the status bar or activate a script.

If two or more AREA's overlap, the region defined first in the map definition takes precedence over subsequent regions. The AREA element is only valid inside the MAP element.

<!ELEMENT AREA - O EMPTY               -- client-side image map area -->
<!ATTLIST AREA
  %attrs;                              -- %coreattrs, %i18n, %events --
  shape       %Shape;        rect      -- controls interpretation of coords --
  coords      %Coords;       #IMPLIED  -- comma separated list of lengths --
  href        %URI;          #IMPLIED  -- URI for linked resource --
  nohref      (nohref)       #IMPLIED  -- this region has no action --
  alt         %Text;         #REQUIRED -- short description --
  tabindex    NUMBER         #IMPLIED  -- position in tabbing order --
  accesskey   %Character;    #IMPLIED  -- accessibility key character --
  onfocus     %Script;       #IMPLIED  -- the element got the focus --
  onblur      %Script;       #IMPLIED  -- the element lost the focus --
  >

Core attributes: class id style title
Internationalization attributes: dir lang
Events: onclick ondblclick onmousedown onmouseup onmouseover onmousemove onmouseout onkeypress onkeydown onkeyup

Shape	Coordinates	Explanation
CIRCLE	X,Y,Radius	Define a circle with X,Y as the center and given radius.
POLY	X1,Y1,X2,Y2...,Xn,Yn	Define a polygon with n points, using an X,Y pair for each point of the polygon. The polygon is not automatically closed, so include the starting point again as the last point to close the polygon.
RECT	Left,Top,Right,Bottom	Define a rectangle with upper-left corner (Left,Top) and lower-right corner (Right,Bottom).

The upper-left corner of the image is (0,0).

In HTML 3.2 you can supply all the values with a percent sign as a suffix to let the values be interpreted as percentages of the image's width and height.

(see RFC 1630

<protocol>://<host>:<portnumber><path><anchor>?<parameters>

protocol

The protocol you want to use. Some well-known protocols are :

protocol	Usage
http	Hypertext Transfer Protocol, for World Wide Web pages
ftp	File Transfer Protocol, for downloading and uploading files
news	Reading and posting messages to newsgroups
gopher	Menu like information system, used before the WWW got popular.
telnet	Remote login on another computer

host

The host computer which has to handle the request. This can be a four-number internet address, or the name of the computer.

portnumber

On a computer you can set up more than one server (program) which handle the same protocol. Each server is assigned its own portnumber to which it listens. Each protocol has a default portnumber, and most programs add this if the address does not contain a portnumber. For example the default portnumber for http is 80.

path

The directory on the computer where the information is stored.

anchor

For an HTTP address you can create anchors in a page, which lets you jump to a specific position in that page. Anchors are created with the NAME attribute of the A element.

parameters

If the address links to a program you can supply information to this program with this parameters. What parameters you can use depends completely on the program.

If you want to link to an anchor which has been created with the NAME attribute, Add the character # followed by the name of the anchor to the link. By using only the #<NAME> syntax as the destination of the link you can link to a specific position with the current document. This can be used for things like a table of contents.

Value	Shape
DEFAULT	The areas on the map not covered by a shape.
CIRCLE / CIRC	Circle.
POLYGON / POLY	Polygon.
RECTANGLE / RECT	Rectangle.

If the SHAPE attribute is omitted shape="rect" is assumed.

Magic TARGET names
These names all begin with the underscore character. Any targeted window name beginning with underscore which is not one of these names, will be ignored.

Value	Description
_blank	This target will cause the link to always be loaded in a new blank window. This window is not named.
_self	This target causes the link to always load in the same window the anchor was clicked in. This is useful for overriding a globally assigned BASE target.
_parent	This target makes the link load in the immediate FRAMESET parent of this document. This defaults to acting like _self if the document has no parent.
_top	This target makes the link load in the full body of the window. This defaults to acting like _self if the document is already at the top. It is useful for breaking out of an arbitrarily deep FRAME nesting.

<MAP name="area"> <AREA shape="circle" coords="30,24,21" href="AREA1.html" alt="Circle"> <AREA shape="poly" coords="77,44,119,44,98,3,77,44" href="AREA2.html" alt="Triangle"> <AREA shape="rect" coords="145,4,187,44" href="AREA3.html" alt="Square"> </MAP> <CENTER><IMG src="AREA1.gif" usemap="#area" border="0" width="200" height="50" alt=""></CENTER>