OnMouseOver and image maps working across multiple images

[seegoon]

Hi all.

So: I've put together a page, in which I want several clickable image maps. I've put those together already. The problem with image maps is that they're not very intuitive, so users don't really expect the image to be clickable and accordingly won't even try to. The solution is to have the image highlight whenever the mouse travels over the mapped-out area; I understand that this is quite easy. Some Googling has provided a few solutions.

However, my problem is this: because of the way the page was designed, some of the images themselves are split into separate jpegs; they were sliced up by the designer in Photoshop. What I need your help with is ascertaining whether it's possible to have one mouseover highlight two jpegs. To illustrate, one of the images is of a pig, foal, lamb and chick, with each one image mapped already. To get the required effect I understand that I can create four new images: one with each animal highlighted. Then I can get the image map to show the highlighted version with a tiny bit of scripting. But the pig's ear is cut off, and sits in a different jpeg. Could a mouseover of the 'pig map' in the large jpeg also prompt the ear - a different jpeg entirely - to change as well?

I'm not explaining this very well, I have to admit, but in principle it seems simple. If you need any further explanation I'll be sure to give it another go.

Thanks for reading regardless. If you got this far.

[gits]

it is possible ... of course ... could you please post en example of the code you already have ... so that we have something to work with?

kind regards

[Dormilich]

@seegoon
I’d try to change the mouse pointer shape (hand), so that is represents a link.

[seegoon]

@Dormilich
It seems to do that anyway. But I think the problem still remains - it's not obvious enough in my eyes.

[seegoon]

Here's a really stripped-down version of what I have at the moment, which should give a good impression. It works, but only on the one jpeg instead of across two.

Here's the Javascript in the header:

<script language="javascript">
 
Image1 = new Image(232,275)
Image1.src = "images/hostage-cover.jpg"
 
Image2 = new Image(232,275)
Image2.src = "images/hostage-cover-highlighted.jpg"
 
function highlight() {
document.hostage.src = Image2.src; return true;
}
 
function original() {
document.hostage.src = Image1.src; return true;
}
 
</script>
 

Here's the code for the image:

<img 
name="hostage" 
src="images/hostage-cover.jpg" 
width="232" 
height="275" 
alt="Hostage cover" 
usemap="#hostage"/>
 

And here's the image map code:

<map name="hostage" id="hostage">
 
<area    
shape="poly"
    coords="2,34,26,273,255,254,201,14"
    href="http://books.mileskelly.net/menu1_sub1_detail.asp?ID=657"
    title="Click here to find out more about Hostage"
    onMouseOver="highlight()"
    onMouseOut="original()"/>
 
</map>
 

In case you're worried, Hostage is a novel! If there is any wasted code here, then please let me know and I'll glady destroy it.

Basically, what I want is for that mouseover to highlight two images instead of just one.

Thanks!

[Dormilich]

@seegoon
then you need to treat two images in the highlight() code.

[seegoon]

@Dormilich
Sorry, I don't understand. Do you mean add another image to the highlight() in the script in the header? Thanks.

[Dormilich]

@seegoon
yupp, that’s what I’m talking about.

[seegoon]

@Dormilich
I've tried but I'm not getting it right. How should the code look? Thanks.

[Dormilich]

function highlight()
{
    img1.src = "picture1.jpeg";
    img2.src = "picture2.jpeg";
}

[seegoon]

Sorry, still not working for me. That code looks very different to what it was before; there was no .jpg mentioned in the original, for instance. Should I be changing something else too? Thanks for your time, I know this must be boring for you.

[Dormilich]

@seegoon
I’m a lazy bummer, did make some simplifications.

(why creating a whole new image if I only need the source path?)

@seegoon
uh? what about lines 4/7 in post #5, ain’t that no jpegs?*

* even if it were so, it wouldn’t matter because the <img>'s src attribute is always an URI.

[seegoon]

Sorry, I've been a bit unclear; I meant that the function highlight() didn't contain any .jpgs. Anyway, I've been struggling with this all day and have come to the conclusion that I've bitten off more than I can chew! What I want to achieve looks to be seriously complicated beyond what I had realised and I only really understand CSS and HTML. I'm trying to do something that no tutorials seem to actually explain; not only do I want what I've said above, I want several of them on one page. This is just a bit beyond me, and I need to get my nose into a big ol' tutorial or book to start learning a bit of JS. But thank you for your help - it's steered me in the right direction at least!

[Dormilich]

@seegoon
they indeed do, you're just not aware of it, because you wrap the .jpg in a global variable.

[global]
Image1.src = "picture1.jpg"; // to keep the names simple
 
[global]
function highlight() {
[local]
    // img1 is the <img> element in your HTML document
    // Image1 is an JavaScript <img> object not attached anywhere
    // JavaScript looks for Image1 in local scope => not found
    // JavaScript looks for Image1 in global scope => found
    // Image1.src = "picture1.jpg" (see above definition)
 
    // therefore
    img1.src = Image1.src;
    // is the same as
    img1.src = "picture1.jpg";
 
    // do that also for the other image ...
[local-end]
}
[global]