Breadcrumbs

Overview

Breadcrumb is a one-line navigational element that supports wayfinding: it aids the users in finding their current location within the hierarchical structure of a website. Breadcrumb navigation is a good choice in terms of usability because it never causes problems in user testing and takes up very little space on the page.

Usage

Use when

• You need to inform the user where they are in the hierarchy of the site.
• The user needs to navigate back to a higher level page.
• The application has a complex, multi-layer architecture that’s more than 2 levels deep.

Don’t use when

• Primary navigation is needed instead. Breadcrumbs are always treated as secondary and should never replace primary navigation.
• Employing a vertical model tree component.
• If a lower-level page is (or can be put) in more than one parent category.
• You want to show the user’s history.
• Your product has a flat hierarchy that’s only 1 or 2 levels deep.