[thelist] Top of page breadcrumb navigation

Ron Thigpen rthigpen at nc.rr.com
Thu May 3 17:01:11 CDT 2001


Never mind that any given user's path through the Internet, including your site
is already marked by breadcrumbs called browser history.  This particular trail
includes an interface for accessing it, and titles that are exactly as useful as
the site author made them to be. 

Now, I could put a row of anchors across the top of every page that reference
the history object, but really, should I?  

<em>
The commonly implemented form of breadcrumbs really only makes sense within a
hierarchical site structure.  
</em>

That being said, I find them /highly/ useful for navigating this type of site.

Catalog Example: 

shopping catalog site - not familiar w/ proprietary categorization scheme

search on term that will get me any old item that will be in the target category

request item detail page for the sole purpose of getting at the breadcrumb list
that will expose the heirarchy

click through to a 'better' spot in the heirarchy (more general or more
specific)

--rt






> >I agree completely. I just don't agree with the term 'breadcrumbs'
> >
> >To me 'breadcrumbs' represent your path through the site. Since the web is a
> >form of hypermedia, defining things in linear fashion doesn't always work
> >too well.
>




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