Image maps

An image map Java Bean or ActiveX control has a display image property and a mapping image property. The mapping image comprises a plurality of regions coloured from a pre-determined sequence of colours. When instantiated the image map displays the display image. The image map is, responsive to user interaction with the display image, to obtain a coordinate in the display image and to reading an index colour of a corresponding coordinate in the mapping image. If the index colour is from the pre-determined sequence of colours, the image map indicates user selection of a region of the display image by highlighting the region.