ChartDirector creates charts as images in PNG, GIF, JPEG, BMP or WBMP format. These images are incorporated into HTML web pages by using <IMG> tags. In HTML, an image can be made "clickable" by using an "image map" to define the "hot spots" on the image. An "image map" is defined using <MAP> and <AREA> tags.

The "hot spots" defined can response to mouse events like ordinary HTML links or buttons. These events include mouse clicks, and other mouse events such as "onMouseOver" or "onMouseOut". The "hot spots" can also be used to show tool tips or to activate client-side Javascript.

ChartDirector can automatically generate image maps for the charts it produces, thereby making the charts clickable. ChartDirector can generate image maps for the data contents of the chart (that is, bars for bar charts, sectors for pie charts, areas for area charts, etc.), for the legend keys, title boxes, or custom text boxes.

ChartDirector image maps are "open-ended". That means developers can add custom image map entries (<AREA> tags). For example, one can create custom clickable buttons or custom clickable shapes or logos in the chart by drawing them and then defining image maps for them.

Clickable charts are most often used to produce charts that have "drill down" or "zoom in" capabilities. For example, a pie chart could be created such that when a user clicks on the sectors, the browser will load another web page containing a more detail chart regarding that sector. Similarly, a day-of-week bar chart could be created such that when a user clicks on a bar, the browser will load an hour-of-day chart for the day that the user has clicked.