files/en-us/web/api/htmlimageelement/ismap/index.md
{{APIRef("HTML DOM")}}
The isMap property of the {{domxref("HTMLImageElement")}} interface indicates that the image is part of a server-side map. If so, the coordinates where the user clicked on the image are sent to the server. It reflects the element's [`ismap`](/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements/img#ismap) content attribute. This attribute is allowed only if the element is a descendant of an {{htmlelement("a")}} element with a valid href attribute.
[!NOTE] For accessibility reasons, you should generally avoid using server-side image maps, as they require the use of a mouse. Use a client-side image map instead.
A Boolean value which is true if the image is being used for a server-side image map; otherwise, the value is false.
When an image marked as being part of a server-side image map is clicked, the browser constructs the string "?x,y", where x and y indicate the coordinates at which the mouse was clicked as offsets from the top-left corner of the image, specified in CSS pixels.
The browser then fetches that URL from the server and displays or downloads it depending on the value of the download attribute.
Unlike server-side image maps, client-side image maps don't cause the {{HTMLElement("img")}} element to adopt interactive content mode.
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