Re: beyond IMAGEMAP

burchard@geom.umn.edu

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Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 20:39:06 +0200
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Subject: Re: beyond IMAGEMAP 
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davidc@erin.gov.au (David Crossley) writes:
> We use NCSA httpd and Mosaic to present a GIF image as a
> clickable map to the client.  The IMAGEMAP (ISMAP)
> facility allows the pixel coordinates of the mouseclick
> to be interpreted.
> 

> This facility is extremely powerful and allows very
> creative ways to serve information.  However we are
> finding that for many applications we need more than a
> simple point location on the image. 

My recommendation would be to advocate the implementation of the  
"scribble" widget as defined by the HTML+ FORMs spec.  The "scribble"  
widget allows completely arbitrary mouse input to be accumulated, and  
then sent to the server when the FORM is submitted.  As part of a  
FORM, this input can be easily coordinated with other information.

I'm eagerly looking forward to this capability, since it will enable  
more sophisticated interactive geometry applications.  For example,  
our new Kali app (http://www.geom.umn.edu/apps/kali/about.html) could  
really benefit from such an input mechanism.

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Paul Burchard	<burchard@geom.umn.edu>
``I'm still learning how to count backwards from infinity...''
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