Visual Elements and Graphics - Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML - page 145

Server-side maps are no longer commonly used because they require resources on the
Web server. It is more efficient to distribute processing to be on the Web browser client
whenever possible. This way, the resources of the Web server can be reserved for the
tasks that only it can perform.

Most Web developers do not hand-code image maps. As mentioned previously, the
easiest way to create a client-side image map is to use a Web authoring tool. Some
shareware programs, such as CoffeeCup Image Mapper ( http://www.coffeecup.com)
and HTML Map Designer Pro ( http://www.imagecure.com/) also provide this feature.

Thumbnail Images

A thumbnail image is a smaller version of an image you would like to include on a Web
site. It is usually placed within anchor tags that link to the larger, more detailed version
of the image. Large images can significantly increase the load time of a Web page. If
you are creating a page with multiple detailed images, consider displaying thumbnail
images instead. This way, visitors who are interested in the images and willing to wait
can use the thumbnail image to link to the larger image. Most graphics applications can
create thumbnail images.

The Favorites Icon

Ever wonder about the small icon you sometimes see in the address bar or tab of a
browser? That's a favorites icon, usually referred to as a favicon , which is a square
image (either 16 32 pixels) associated with a Web page. The favicon,

shown in Figure 4.25, may display in the browser address bar, tab, or the
favorites/bookmarks list.

× 16 pixels or 32 ×

Figure 4.25
The favorites icon
displays in the browser
tab and address bar

Go to the end of the
book for a full color
version of this figure

You can create a favicon in a graphics application, such as Adobe Fireworks, or at a
number of Web sites including http://www.favicongenerator.com, http://www.favicon.cc,
and http://www.freefavicon.com. While earlier versions of Internet Explorer (such as
version 5 and 6) expected the file to be named favicon.ico and to reside in the root
directory of the Web server, a more modern approach is to associate the favicon.ico file
with a Web page using the link element. Recall that in Chapter 3 you coded the <link />
tag in the header section of a Web page to associate an external style sheet file with a
Web page file. You can also use the <link /> tag to associate a favorites icon with a
Web page. Three attributes are used to associate a Web page with a favorites icon: rel ,