Multiple hyperlinked slices in single image, please!

[erinlea]

I know this isn't exactly an option yet, but what I would LOVE to see (maybe as an addition to the Slice tool) would be the option to add multiple/separate hyperlinked areas mapped out within a single image file. (Not only for embedding on a webpage—I know how to do that.) At work, I make a lot flyers that are sent out university-wide through Outlook—the PDF versions I make in InDesign will have all the links mapped out but the system used to send it out doesn't allow for a viewable PDF in the body of the email, it has to be a JPG or PNG which means each file ends up being limited to having only one link/alt-text field. I know part of my issue is coming from internal workflow limitations but I can absolutely see wider-use benefits from this being possible—especially in improving accessibility.

[Mylenium]

How would that be useful? If you suppress HTML entirely, even basic links won't work. Why go to such lengths to implement a feature that would barely be used?

Mylenium

[erinlea]

Thanks for your question, Mylenium! Admittedly, this would be a lot more useful to my specific use-case, but I don't think I'm the only one who would find this to be an improvement. I'm not saying to suppress HTML at all—links inherently need HTML, what I would like is to have more of a PDF's functionality to be possible in other file formats so that the end-user's experience is comparable. If you need to use Outlook to mass-email out an image sliced into multiple sections with different links you’d probably need to piece it all together in a table and hope for the best, it works a bit better in Mailchimp (or the like), but the implementation process and the end-results are still far from ideal.
 
I think this would also help with times when text is used as a part of an image, or if you’re telling a linear story visually—to map out sections and add information that is specific to certain areas (e.g., an image of a map where you could hover over individual regions and get specific alt-text or link to pertinent information). It's all easy enough to do on a webpage, I think more granular control over the image itself’s metadata would be beneficial.

[happie_97]

Anytime you have an idea for a new feature, you can submit a feature request. Here is the link to the Photoshop request. 

[melissapiccone]

PS used to do this a million years ago... Doubt they will be going backwards. 

[Conrad C]

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@erinlea wrote:

the system used to send it out doesn't allow for a viewable PDF in the body of the email, it has to be a JPG or PNG which means each file ends up being limited to having only one link/alt-text field.

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Photoshop may not be able to do much about this. Common image formats — which are defined by standards bodies outside Adobe — do not provide for clickable hyperlinks inherently in the image. Any hyperlink you ever see for an image is set for it in the HTML code surrounding the image.

Image metadata is generally defined by EXIF and IPTC standards. There are already places to enter a URL there, but for reference, not for clicking. Web browsers and email clients don’t turn any metadata URL fields into clickable links as far as I know.

So Photoshop could provide any number of features that you could attach to an image, such as multiple hyperlinks in the metadata, but none of it would work outside Photoshop (without applying HTML to the image), because the image and metadata standards themselves don’t support them. If you want an image format like PNG or JPEG to support even a single hyperlink, that would require a revision to those standards, and then all web browsers and email clients on all devices would need to be revised to support it.

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@erinlea wrote:

I can absolutely see wider-use benefits from this being possible—especially in improving accessibility.

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What is happening instead, as you would see with InDesign, is that interactivity and layout involving images is now done through CSS/EPUB formats because those are supported more widely and consistently across desktop and mobile devices. The features that use image slices and tables to lay out linked image pieces are from older (1990s) workflows and are now actively discouraged, and accessibility is a big part of that. Tables (when used for layout) and image slices are horrible for accessibility; the structured data of CSS/EPUB are more easily navigated by, for example, a screen reader. 

[Crysta33012500et3j]

Do you know if this ever became a thing? This would actually make my life so much easier.

[melissapiccone]

Tell us more of what you are trying to do - be specific as possible and we might be able to tell you how to do it efficiently.