Image Maps

[Aperture]

Hi Everyone. I just discovered Image Maps and am considering moving my whole site over to them using Taco HTML Edit to get rid of the my horrible table based layout. Are there any downsides to doing this? Any other thoughts?

Thanks

[iMeowbot]

Are there any downsides to doing this?
It can hurt accessibility if you aren't careful. Such sites can also be painful to use on slow (dial-up etc.) connections. Still, it's a much less awful way to go than the ubiquitous Flash misuse.

If you're keen on using a map for navigation, one thing you might add is an inconspicuous group of conventional text links somewhere else on the page. Or, stick with sliced images instead of a map, and make sure all the images have good labels so that the page still works correctly if autoloaded images are turned off at the browser.

[xoreu]

Looking at your photography site (I'm assuming that's the one you want to switch over to image maps), I don't think it would make a big difference - it would still consist of all images, and there wouldn't be many benefits in the way a visitor sees the website.

But I think iMeowbot's suggestions are also a good way to go: add good alt elements to your images, and maybe, at the bottom of the site, add small text links (Home| Photography| Blog| etc).