is image-map (with <area> tag) still the way to do it?

Question

I have a diagram, which I got from a psd file.

I need to have a few elements in that diagram clickable. Basically it's a circle,the center and four areas in the cardinal directions (N,S,E,W) need to be clickable.

Is an image-map with <area> tag still the best way to do something like this?

Answer 1

Yes and no. Image maps are still very much allowed to be used with HTML5 and if they solve what you are trying to do, you can use them as much as you want. However, an alternative to image-map is to use SVG which gives you many more options both in terms of animations and effects, but also some new event triggers (onmouseover e.t.c).