<p>The <strong class=html>AREA</strong> element defines a <em>map region</em> in a <a href="map.html">client-side image map</a>. Each map region is a piece of the image with a different action when clicked.</p>
<p>The <strong class=html>SHAPE</strong> and <strong class=html><a name=coords>COORDS</a></strong> attributes of <strong class=html>AREA</strong> specify what part of the image is included in the region. The default <strong class=html>SHAPE</strong> value is <strong class=html>rect</strong>, which defines a rectangular region using <strong class=html>COORDS="<var>left</var>, <var>top</var>, <var>right</var>, <var>bottom</var>"</strong>. Other <strong class=html>SHAPE</strong> values are</p>
<ul>
<li><strong class=html>default</strong>, which specifies the entire image;</li>
<li><strong class=html>circle</strong>, which specifies a circular region using <strong class=html>COORDS="<var>center-x</var>, <var>center-y</var>, <var>radius</var>"</strong>;</li>
<li><strong class=html>poly</strong>, which specifies a polygonal region using <strong class=html>COORDS="<var>x<sub>1</sub></var>, <var>y<sub>1</sub></var>, <var>x<sub>2</sub></var>, <var>y<sub>2</sub></var>, <var>...</var>, <var>x<sub>N</sub></var>, <var>y<sub>N</sub></var>"</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Coordinate values are relative to the top left corner of the object and may be expressed as pixels or percentages. A percentage radius value for circular regions is calculated relative to the smaller of the object's width and height. If two or more regions overlap, the earliest specified region takes precedence.</p>
<p>The <strong class=html>HREF</strong> attribute specifies a link to another resource, such as an <abbr class=initialism title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> document or a <acronym title="Joint Photographic Experts Group">JPEG</acronym> image. The <strong class=html>TITLE</strong> attribute can be used to briefly describe the contents of the link and is rendered as a "tooltip" by some visual browsers. The boolean <strong class=html>NOHREF</strong> attribute indicates that the region has no link.</p>
<p>The required <strong class=html>ALT</strong> attribute provides alternate text for those not loading images. Effective <strong class=html>ALT</strong> text should generally give the <em>function</em> of the map region rather than a <em>description</em> of the region. For example, <strong class=html>ALT="WDG Home"</strong> or <strong class=html>ALT="Web Design Group"</strong> would be more appropriate than <strong class=html>ALT="WDG Logo"</strong> for a map region whose link went to the <a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/"><abbr class=initialism title="Web Design Group">WDG</abbr> home page</a>. Good <strong class=html>ALT</strong> text is crucial to the document's accessibility for the significant portion of users who do not load images.</p>
<div class=transitional>
<p><a name="target">The <strong class=html>TARGET</strong> attribute</a> is used with <a href="../frames/index.html">frames</a> to specify in which frame the link should be rendered. If no frame with such a name exists, the link is rendered in a new window unless overridden by the user. Special frame names begin with an underscore:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong class=html>_blank</strong> renders the link in a new, unnamed window</li>
<li><strong class=html>_self</strong> renders the link in the current frame (useful for overriding a <strong class=html><a href="../head/base.html">BASE</a> TARGET</strong>)</li>
<li><strong class=html>_parent</strong> renders the link in the immediate <strong class=html><a href="../frames/frameset.html">FRAMESET</a></strong> parent</li>
<li><strong class=html>_top</strong> renders the link in the full, unframed window</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>The <strong class=html>ACCESSKEY</strong> attribute specifies a single Unicode character as a shortcut key for following the link. <a href="../entities/index.html">Entities</a> (<abbr title="for example"><i lang=la>e.g.</i></abbr> <strong class=html>é</strong>) may be used as the <strong class=html>ACCESSKEY</strong> value.</p>
<p>The <strong class=html>TABINDEX</strong> attribute specifies a number between 0 and 32767 to indicate the tabbing order of the map region. A region with <strong class=html>TABINDEX=0</strong> or no <strong class=html>TABINDEX</strong> attribute will be visited after any elements with a positive <strong class=html>TABINDEX</strong>. Among positive <strong class=html>TABINDEX</strong> values, the lower number receives focus first. In the case of a tie, the element appearing first in the <abbr class=initialism title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> document takes precedence.</p>
<p>In addition to the <a href="../attrs.html#events">core events</a> common to most elements, <strong class=html>AREA</strong> accepts the following event attributes for client-side scripting:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong class=html>ONFOCUS</strong>, when the region receives focus;</li>
<li><strong class=html>ONBLUR</strong>, when the region loses focus.</li>
</ul>
<h2>More Information</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/objects.html#edef-AREA">AREA in <abbr class=initialism title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr> HTMLá4.0 Recommendation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32#map">AREA in <abbr class=initialism title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr> HTMLá3.2 Recommendation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/wilbur/special/area.html">AREA in <abbr class=initialism title="Web Design Group">WDG</abbr> HTMLá3.2 Reference</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.hut.fi/u/jkorpela/HTML3.2/5.5.html">AREA in <cite>Learning HTMLá3.2 by Examples</cite></a></li>
</ul>
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<address>Maintained by <a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/%7Eliam/">Liam Quinn</a> <<a href="mailto:liam@htmlhelp.com">liam@htmlhelp.com</a>></address>