When a web page uses a server side image map to present the user with a selection of options, 

browsers cannot indicate to the user the URL that will be followed when a region of the map is 

activated. Therefore, the redundant text link is necessary to provide access to the page for 

anyone not able to see or accurately click on the map. 

(f) Client side image maps shall be provided instead of server side image maps except 

where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.  

Why do client side image maps provide better accessibility? 

Unlike server side image maps, the client side image map allow an author to assign text to each 

image map  hot spots.  This feature means that someone using a screen reader can easily 

identify and activate regions of the map. An explanation of how these image maps are 

constructed will help clarify this issue.  

Creating a basic client side image map requires several steps: 

Identify an image for the map. First, an image must be used in a client side image map. 

This image is identified using the  tag. To identify it as a map, use the "usemap" 

attribute. 

Use the 

includes various  tags that are used to identify specific portions of the image. 

Use  tags to identify map regions . To identify regions within a map, simply use 

 tags within the 

accessible is considerably easier to describe: simply include the "ALT" attribute and area 

description inside each  tag. The following HTML demonstrates how to make a 

client side image map:  

(g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables. 

(h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have 

two or more logical levels of row or column headers.  

Why are these two provisions necessary? 

Paragraphs (g) and (h) permit the use of tables, but require that the tables be coded according 

to the rules of the markup language being used for creating tables. Large tables of data can be 

difficult to interpret if a person is using a non visual means of accessing the web. Users of 

screen readers can easily get "lost" inside a table because it may be impossible to associate a 

National GACC Website and GACC Website Template  

29

  Implementation Guidelines