Illustrator

Create image maps

Image maps enable you to link one or more areas of an image—called hotspots—to a URL. When a user clicks on the hotspot, the web browser loads the linked file.

The main difference between using image maps and using slices to create links is in how the artwork is exported as a web page. Using image maps keeps the artwork intact as a single image file, while using slices causes the artwork to be divided into separate files. Another difference between image maps and slices is that image maps enable you to link polygonal or rectangular areas in your artwork, while slices enable you to link only rectangular areas. If you need to link only rectangular areas, using slices may be preferable to using an image map.

Note: To avoid unexpected results, don’t create image-map hotspots in slices that contain URL links—either the image map links or the slice links may be ignored in some browsers.
  1. Select the object that you want to link to a URL.
  2. In the Attributes panel, select a shape for the image map from the Image Map menu.
  3. Enter a relative or full URL in the URL text box, or select from the list of available URLs. You can verify the URL location by clicking the Browser button.
    To increase the number of visible entries in the URL menu, select panel Options from the Attributes panel menu. Enter a value from 1 to 30 to define how many URL entries you want to be displayed in the URL list.