It is possible to prepare drawing elements for use in interactive electronic documentation as drawings are created in vector graphic formats such as CGM or SVG.
In interactive electronic documentation, text and graphics are associated through links. These links can be activated by mouse click, thereby opening, for instance, another document, another illustration, or a detailed view of a drawing element that has been clicked.
In order for parts of an image to be usable for this kind of functionality, it is necessary for the "active" areas, also known as hotspots, to be identified in the graphic file. This is possible under drawing formats such as CGM or SVG. Other graphic file formats - any bit-map format, for instance - must first be converted before hotspots can be defined.
