Ask HN: Are image maps a thing of the past in modern/Web 2.0 design?

[SimpleDog]

Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a web noob, but I find myself believing that I need to use them in a particular site design. Are there better ways to do this? By better, I mean easier workflow, with any advantage to the end user? If image maps are so legacy, and still supported, what are reasons not to use them?

[stevejohnson]

This is more of a question for Stack Overflow. At the very least, it's not deprecated in the spec at all.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3528746/are-image-maps-ma...

[SimpleDog]

Thanks

[pointpointclick]

It's been several years since I've created a true image map. However, I've approximated the technique more than once by placing various, absolutely-positioned elements over an image. I favor this technique because it does not involve opening a new browser tab to look up the correct children and attributes of the map element.