I sliced the navigation bars for the web site urbanmist.com using image ready and created rollovers. Ther site downloads slow with this method. I tested it out another way by getting rid of the slices and using an image map and it loads much faster this way.

Do slices take longer to download than an image map. Which way is best to use.

When you use image slices, you are dealing with multiple images whereas an image map is typically a single image. So other than the normal overhead of making multiple HTTP requests instead of a single one for the imagemap, the answer is no assuming the sum of the parts (sliced image sizes) equals the sum of the whole (the single image map file size).

Is there a way to make rollovers while using an image map?

yes you can make rollovers for the image map .. just like how you make rollovers for slices , from the Rollovers palette in ImageReady

If you use an image map, does the rollover work on the entire image or can it just rollover on the pieces of the image that have hotspots. On my site www.urbanmist i want to have each of the navigation links (Home, Fun Stuff, Blog etc...) to have its own rollover when you touch them.

Ive used Image Ready, Photoshop, Fireworks and Flash for these things, and to be honest?...simple javascript with a preloader script, is generally faster for images around the 5k mark. Its also really easy to edit and add more buttons where you require. Ive got a coupla good javascripts if you want?

Scotia