Comments on: SimpleQuiz › Part XII › Breadcrumbs › Conclusion

By: Martijn

Martijn — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 16:03:07 +0000

And here are the results of a study amongst users of the different breadcrumb types Malessa mentions:
Exploring User Mental Models of Breadcrumbs in Web Navigation
So, I think location breadcrumbs are the most usable type in general, although the other two types may have their merits in certain situations.
Regards,
Martijn.

By: Malessa

Malessa — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 04:38:13 +0000

Just thought I’d share an interesting study on the popular breadcrumbing styles in use:
Location, Path & Attribute Breadcrumbs
http://user-experience.org/uefiles/breadcrumbs/

By: Lenny Domnitser

Lenny Domnitser — Tue, 02 Mar 2004 22:07:14 +0000

I found a wonderful replacement for the purist quirksmode-style breadcrumb trail: the browser history list next to the back button. Perhaps breadcrumb trail is a bad term because it is only useful in its broken definition, a site structure branch.

By: Hasan

Hasan — Tue, 02 Mar 2004 02:30:31 +0000

Found today via Mezzoblue…
The Page Paradigm

By: Jimmy Cerra

Jimmy Cerra — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 22:18:35 +0000

Breadcrumbs shouldn't be thought as a narrow view or a hierarchy of topics. Rather, they should be thought of as a way of classifying web pages by "taxa." It is very similar to how biological names are created: Topics are identified by a list of overlapping categories and ordered by increasing generality. In this way breadcrumbs aren't trails; instead, they are taxonomic classifications.

By: Brad Bice

Brad Bice — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 16:06:40 +0000

Zach, please correct me if I am misunderstanding your comment, but isn’t the use of the > (or Joe Clark’s semantically correct →) showing in a visual way that the flow of the “breadcrumbs” goes from left to right? The arrow characters are pointing to the right, thus symbolizing that one leads to the other.
Again, perhaps this isn’t an all-around correct way to look at things, and if so please correct me or question me.

By: Zach Harkey

Zach Harkey — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 07:11:52 +0000

Chris, you've obviously never been lost in the forest of their. If you had, you would realize the myriad considerations of which I speak. And just so you know, there is not so much a whole forest as it is a glorified wooded patch--hardly memorable, even less considerable. And they're? Give me a break! You could barely hide an easter egg in that measly thicket, let alone risk getting lost to the point of needing breadcrumbs. No, I stand by their as being the best forest to illustrate the grave importance of proper breadcrumb markup. Trust me on this one. ; P

By: Chris Neale

Chris Neale — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 03:00:51 +0000

and yours Zach ?
their / there or they’re – you decide : )

By: Zach Harkey

Zach Harkey — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 01:37:49 +0000

The semantics of breadcrumbs are inextricably linked to a strict visual format: left to right. They are no more a list than the words in this sentence(another left-to-right construction that should be left alone). Without the correct stylesheet, the breadcrumb effect is lost. This fact alone should preclude the use of a list to mark up breadcrumbs. In fact, I will argue that it's more anti-semantic than semantic. Lists have huge value in semantic web design and navigation, but not once everything is a list. Take a step back guys, remember their is a whole forest to consider. Oh yeah, Darrell, your typo escapade still has me rolling : )

By: Dingus

Dingus — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:50:38 +0000

What is a “broken record”?
Shouldn’t it be that you are sounding like a skipping CD?