CofC Web Accessibility Guidelines- Rule (F)

(f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.

Translation: To use a client-side image map (see rule (e) for more info on image maps), you must first be able to slice up the image. You'll probably do this with a graphics program. If the graphics program is not sufficiently refined to allow you to manipulate the image, you may have to resort to a server-side image map.

In realty, most good graphics programs (such as Adobe ImageReady) allow a very fine level of image control. It is unlikely that you'll need to resort to server-side maps.

What to do: Use client-side image maps whenever possible. Use a good graphics program like ImageReady to manipulate the image.

There's usually no compelling reason to use server-side maps. Client-side maps are supported by all newer browsers. If you must use a server-side map, duplicate the links as text.

Be sure to give each graphic region its own "alt tag". For more on "alt tags", see rule (a).