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96

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3

I have a picture that needs to be split into 4, and each part must have a link. Do people still use image hotspots?

+3  A: 

I am assuming you are talking about client side image maps.

They are still being used and are part of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.1, and also in the current HTML 5 draft.

They are simple to use and are supported by all browsers and as such are a good way to have "hot spots" on a single image. I can't think of a single better alternative (ease of use, browser support, accessibility, being part of the HTML spec) that will give you this functionality.

Whether having such "hot spots" on a single image is advisable (discoverability by the user being the main issue), is a different question.

Oded
A: 

You can use image maps, the main reason people don't like them is because people often map a small part of an image and you don't know it's a link. If you can, just wrap the each image in it's respect <a href='link'>img</a>

Robert
+3  A: 

Using images as links is lame in my opinion; it can hurt accessibility, and depending on the image used, can result in Mystery Meat Navigation, which is lame.

Instead, I'd make that image a background image.

HTML

<div id="image-hotspot">
    <a href="#small-planets">Small Planets</a>
    <a href="#big-planets">Big Planets</a>
    <a href="#the-sun">The Sun</a>
</div>

CSS

#image-hotspot {
    background:url(http://onlyfunnyjokes.com/bestoftheweb/wp-uploads/earth_planets_size_comparison.jpg);
    height:650px;
    width:385px;
}
#image-hotspot a {
    display:block;
    text-indent:-10000px; /* you could also change the opacity instead*/
                          /* as a matter of fact I suggest using the opacity technique */
                          /* the text-indent has caused me troubles in the iPad browser */
    height:216px;
}

You might need to use more advanced CSS positioning to make sure those anchor elements <a> are where you need them to be.

Addendum

Here's another example which should seem more relevant:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"&gt;
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en" >
<head>
    <title >Test</title>
    <style type="text/css">
    #image-hotspot {
        background:url(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Planets2008.jpg);
        height:720px;
        width:1280px;
        position:relative;
        top:0px;
        left:0px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#the-sun {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:720px;
        width:200px;
        position:absolute;
        left:0px;
        top:0px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#mercury {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:25px;
        width:25px;
        position:absolute;
        left:225px;
        top:275px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#venus {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:75px;
        width:40px;
        position:absolute;
        left:265px;
        top:250px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#earth {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:75px;
        width:45px;
        position:absolute;
        left:325px;
        top:250px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#mars {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:75px;
        width:45px;
        position:absolute;
        left:383px;
        top:250px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#jupiter {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:125px;
        width:135px;
        position:absolute;
        left:450px;
        top:225px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#saturn {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:125px;
        width:195px;
        position:absolute;
        left:610px;
        top:225px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#uranus {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:75px;
        width:60px;
        position:absolute;
        left:805px;
        top:250px;
    }
    #image-hotspot a#neptune {
        display:block;
        text-indent:-10000px;
        height:75px;
        width:60px;
        position:absolute;
        left:887px;
        top:250px;
    }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="image-hotspot">
        <a id="the-sun" href="#the-sun">the sun</a>
        <a id="mercury" href="#mercury">mercury</a>
        <a id="venus" href="#venus">venus</a>
        <a id="earth" href="#earth">earth</a>
        <a id="mars" href="#mars">mars</a>
        <a id="jupiter" href="#jupiter">jupiter</a>
        <a id="saturn" href="#saturn">saturn</a>
        <a id="uranus" href="#uranus">uranus</a>
        <a id="neptune" href="#neptune">neptune</a>
        <!-- <a id="pluto" href="#pluto">pluto</a> -->
    </div>
</body>
</html>
LeguRi