Homeward path material

Breadcrumbs

http://www.webaim.org/howto/navigation Non-visual alternatives. With any visual system, a non-visual alternative should be provided. One method which is useful to both visual and non-visual users is often referred to as the "bread crumbs" method. This method involves typing out the current location of a page. For example, the following bread crumbs could represent a page on the Web site of a computer manufacturing company:

Home > Products > Computers > Laptops

It is probably best to make all of the words link back to their respective area, except for the last piece of text, which represents the page that the user is currently on. Bread crumbs allow for navigation (by clicking on the text), visual orientation (the user can see where she is within the site) and non-visual access (the text is accessible to screen readers, and quite easy to interpret by the user).

In response to your article, in my opinion..."telling me where I am within the site" and "telling me exactly the path I've followed to get there" are two very different things. There are two types of Breadcrumbs. The first is an "index" type which basically just tells the user where they are in the current sitemap. It gives the user the location of that page, a point of reference in the overall heirachy of the architecture of that particular site. Very useful in traveling from "particular to general". Calling this a breadcrumb is misleading. The second type is a true Breadcrumb which traces your exact non-linear path of travel. This is basically the same as the back button or a history list. ericD.

Here are some examples of breadcrumbs (I've also emailed these to yourself Eric - as requested.)

• www.useit.com - Jakob Neilsons website about usability.
• www.simply.co.uk - very easy to navigate through different computer components (very handy when you're building a system and need to match a processor with a motherboard for example).
• www.builduk.co.uk - not fully complete yet but those sections which have content also have breadcrumb trails.
• www.microsoft.com - a huge site but uses breadcrumbs so you can see where you've been.

I'd be interested to hear whether you think these are "index" type breadcrumbs or "true" breadcrumbs.

-- TWikiGuest - 26 Oct 2002