Re: beyond IMAGEMAP

Dave Raggett (dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com)
Wed, 11 May 94 9:52:09 BST


David Crossley writes:

> We use NCSA httpd and Mosaic to present a GIF image as a clickable map to
> the client. The IMAGEMAP (ISMAP) facility allows the pixel coordinates of the
> mouseclick to be interpreted. Some document is served or some parameter is
> passed to a server script depending on the location of the mouse click in
> the image.

> This facility is extremely powerful and allows very creative ways to serve
> information. However we are finding that for many applications we need more
> than a simple point location on the image. We need the user to be able to
> define a rectangle on the map image (click, hold, drag, release).

The HTML+ internet draft suggested extending ISMAP to support drags as
well as clicks. This is a simple extension, but as yet no one as far as
I know supports it.

The other solution is to use scribble on image fields in fill-out forms.
This allows users to scribble with a pointing device over an image, and
is part of proposed extensions to current fill-out form capabilities.
It involves switching to a MIME based encoding of form contents and I
hope to clarify this at the WWW'94 conference with browser writers.

--
Best wishes,

Dave Raggett

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