[inasmuch]

Image maps unlocked expression on the web for me when I was a kid. I enjoyed coding websites, but felt creatively limited by what I knew to be possible with simple HTML and CSS. When I realized I could turn any graphics I made into live web elements without having to fit adjacent pieces into a layout I could simulate with tables, I felt I could finally make a website that reflected my artistic self.

I think I published the last version of my personal website that I made with an image map in 2004 or so. I've been trying to think of a good use for one over the last couple years but haven't come up with anything yet.

The last really cool image map-based website I remember was Margot's Room by Emily Carroll [1]. Dunno if she coded it, but it's her comic.

[1] http://emcarroll.com/comics/margot/index.html

[stefs]

i remember slicing images into rectangles which could be fit into a table. stole some portrait photograph of a woman, maxed out contrast, color reduction + dithering, then drew the eyes shut and make the open/close frames into gifs with different timings. the result: an image of a women who blinked both eyes independently, without the use of css and js.

the outcome wasn't planned, it just happened - but it was so funny i still have to laugh all those years later.

[mejutoco]

Choose prime numbers for the duration of those gifs and they will never close at the same time :)