Callouts using XHTML / CSS?

I’m exploring ways to use XHTML / CSS to add callouts to a graphic that has been imported into a page without callouts.

The following site illustrates some good and not-so-good callouts:

What I’m hoping to do is import an image into a page, then use XHTML / CSS to surround that image with callouts that identify elements within the graphic. The goal is that if the graphic is changed, say for purpose of translating the page into another language, the callouts are unaffected insofar as they’re part of the page, NOT part of the graphic.

My supposition is that achieving this will require Float and Z-Axis, although I’m not sure.

The key is that I want to use CSS / XHTML if possible. I’m not necessarily averse to JavaScript or a library like jQuery, although I’d rather use CSS / XHTML alone, if possible.

Any ideas or resources, please?

Also, is there any reason that this is not generally done? That is, the “solution” ends up being so complex and un-maintainable that it’s not worth the effort…(?)

Cheers & thanks,
R
SFO

You can do this to some extent with CSS. Here are some examples:

http://www.pmob.co.uk/search-this/tooltip-basic.htm
http://www.pmob.co.uk/pob/disjointed1.htm
http://www.search-this.com/2008/02/13/disjointed-css/
http://www.tooltipper.com/index.php
http://blogs.sitepoint.com/pure-css3-speech-bubbles

But CSS options pretty much involve just hovering, rather than being able to click anything. You have more options with JS, though, such as:

http://pop.seaofclouds.com/
http://demo.tutorialzine.com/2010/07/colortips-jquery-tooltip-plugin/colortips.html
http://raena.net/trythis/citetooltips.html
http://www.walterzorn.de/tooltip/tooltip.htm
http://vadikom.com/tools/poshy-tip-jquery-plugin-for-stylish-tooltips/
http://www.himmera.com/Javascript_scripts/Tooltip_Javascript_example_html_css_js_tooltips_JQuery-Tooltip_javascript_and_CSS_JavaScript,_DHTML_Tooltips_WalterZorn.com__9.htm

Thanks for your help. I tried a few Web search variants but was coming up with too much unrelated material. I genuinely appreciate the pointers to some more pertinent information.

Indeed, it’s why I thought I’d try asking my question on this Forum.

Cheers & thanks 'gain,
R
SFO