A breadcrumb (or breadcrumb trail) is a kind of secondary navigation technique that discloses the user’s location on a website or web application. The phrase comes from the Hansel and Gretel anecdote in which two kids drop breadcrumbs to create a path back to their home. However, in the real- world, breadcrumbs provide users with a method to locate the direction back to their actual landing point.

Breadcrumbs are usually found on websites that maintain an enormous quantity of content in a hierarchical style. They are also seen in web applications that have more than one step, and they perform in a manner equivalent to a progress bar. In the easiest form, breadcrumbs are horizontally organized text links divided by the “greater than” character (>); the character signifies the level of that page close to the page links beside it. 

FAQs

Q1. What are the different types of breadcrumbs?

There are three types of breadcrumbs: 

1. Location-based breadcrumbs reveal where the user is in the website’s hierarchy.
2. Attribute-based breadcrumbs show the characteristics of a specific page.
3. Path-based breadcrumbs indicate to users the steps they’ve carried to reach a specific page.

Q2. When are breadcrumbs required?

Breadcrumbs are extensively beneficial in large, multi-leveled hierarchical websites or web applications, where users are at threat of losing their way after a sequel of twists and turns.

Q3. When and where breadcrumbs should be avoided? 

Breadcrumbs aren’t required everywhere. Breadcrumb navigation is not required on a homepage if the user is already at the highest level of the website hierarchy.