You put images in a web page using the img element. For example, if you include this image tag in your page
< img
src=
"../../../images/GEB.png"
/>
then the image displayed on this page will be displayed on your page when you load the page. (But only if you have the image stored at the same relative file location from the file location where this particular web page is stored - in a directory named "images" that is three levels away in the file hierarchy from this page)
In the general case, the img element can have a number of attributes though the above example only has a single one, src. In this case, the src attribute is required -- it doesn't make sense to have an img tag without specifying which image.
The img tag can take any or all of the following as attributes:
<img
alt="[Goedel Escher Bach]"
width= "301"
height="349"
src="http://www.ils.unc.edu/courses/2013_fall/INLS261_001/images/GEB.png"
/>
Display the specified image
use '[Goedel Escher Bach]' as the alternate text if the image is not or cannot be displayed.
display it with a width of 301 pixels
display it with a height of 349 pixels
Find the source of the image at the location specified after the = sign
It does so because the HTML tags that encompass it refer back to a CSS element that tells the IMAGE object how to display. In particular the encompassing HTML element is a special kind of span. Note how on line 109, one sees the tag
class="center"
which refers to the instructions on line 357 on the stylesheet where the special image class named "center" is defined
img.center { display: block; margin: 6px auto; text-align: center; }
So an image of the class named "center" will then display in the center of the space.
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To make an image into a hyperlink, embed the img tag inside the hypertext anchor
<a href="http://www.unc.edu/">
<img
alt="[Goedel Escher Bach] "
src="http://www.ils.unc.edu/courses/2013_summerI/inls261_001/images/GEB.png" />
</a>
Now when you click on the image it will take you to the UNC homepage.
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Image maps are "clickable images". They allow you to specify which URL should be accessed when a user clicks on a part of an image. For example, if you have a state map and want to bring up information about selected counties when a user clicks on the shape of the county, then you can do so by defining a geometric shape around a county and associating the coordinates of that shape with a URL of your choosing - in this case, a county information page. This is a very powerful tool and gives you a lot of flexibility in how you design your pages. It's a step towards dynamic-content as well.
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Here is a simple example of the HTML code for a client-side image map. Looking at the code, we see the instructions shown below on this page.
<h2>North Carolina
<map name=" FPMap0">
<area
href="counties/Brunswick.htm"
shape="circle" coords="375, 189, 18">
< area
href=
"counties/Columbus.htm"
shape="circle" coords="348, 175, 18">
< area
href=
"counties/NewHanover.htm"
shape="circle" coords="399, 177, 15">
[we skipped many lines of code here]
< area
href=
"counties/Jones.htm"
shape="polygon" coords="408, 123, 417, 104, 440, 112, 440, 137, 412, 121">
</map>
<img
src="../images/NorthCarolina/NCcounties.gif"
width="537"
height="218"
usemap=
" #FPMap0"
alt="map of North Carolina's 100 counties"
/>
</h2>
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We will create an image map web page in which we will use an image as a navigation feature. Our goal is to use the top image as a visual way to find things.
So, this image map was created by Dreamweaver, but displays in Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, and almost all other browsers. The image map is defined by a shape mapped onto an image. The map defines the browser's action when the user clicks within the shape, in this case causing a new html file to open.
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Note the similarities
Image maps can be very effective ways to provide navigation tools to the user. Try another one using a real map and images
You can use some editors to create image maps or online tools such as image-maps.com.
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