Do you use breadcrumb navigation? Options

[cre8pc]

Inspired by recent research into the use of breadcrumb navigation...and comments to a post I made in the Search Engine Roundtable, I thought I'd toss out some questions to our Cre8tive members.

The poll asks, Do you make use of breadcrumb navigation, if offered?


Also:

1. Do you apply breadcrumb navigation in your web site(s)?

2. Have you found that they help or hinder your visitors?

For reference and discussion:

Breadcrumb Navigation: An Exploratory Study of Usage

Breadcrumb Navigation: Further Investigation of Usage

[url=http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/oct04.asp]
Do you hear what I hear? ... or why it may not matter that users still ignore breadcrumbs[/url]

Quote from "Do you hear..."

Were the participants that completed the tasks more slowly less satisfied with their experience? 

No. In fact, there were no reliable differences in user satisfaction levels between the three groups. Increasing the use of breadcrumbs as navigation shortcuts did not improve the experience. Traversing more pages did not frustrate the users. 

So here's what we have to work with: 

Breadcrumbs increase efficiency in browse/compare/select environments by reducing browsing 
Exploiting breadcrumbs did not meaningfully improve the user experience 
Users have to be cajoled (er, trained) to using breadcrumb navigation2 
Users who browse more products tend to buy more things.

See also more of my quibbles in Making a Mountain Out of a Breadcrumb Trail

[thirstymoose_2000]

It really depends on the site.

Most marketing/brochureware doesn't require the use of breadcrumbs.

For larger, informationcentric sites I am more apt to use breadcrumbs. Some site do them well, but some sites are too shallow for breadcrumbs and they are not usefull because you never have to back-up more than one or two levels.

[Grumpus]

To me, breadcrumbs aren't so much a navigation tool that I may or may not "use", but rather, they are a visual indication as to just where I actually am on the web site. So, do I use them? Sure - I look there to see where I am. Do I click them? Rarely, but I do if I'm not "quite" where I want to be, but I'm close and need to go back up a level to find the next level.

G.

[ILoveJackDaniels]

Yes, sometimes. If I'm browsing movies, for example, and land via an SE on a specific flick, I'll go up through the breadcrumbs to view the whole genre. That sort of thing. More often than not it's only if I land from outside though, as if I'm already in the site, I'll use the back button. Which I suppose means that I think of them as useful when used as a visual indication of where in the site I am.

Or, what Stock said.

[Scratch]

I agree with Grumpus: they do two jobs and click frequency isn't the only indicator of usage.

In response to the questions:
- Yes, I use them, but I couldn't tell you when or where. Maybe I don't click on them?
- Yes, I have developed with them, but most sites are too small to benefit from them
- They have helped my visitors. I've developed one transactional app, in particular, where a kind of breadcrumb was the primary means of navigation in certain modes.

[ILoveJackDaniels]

Actually, we use them here as well, and when I made some changes a few months ago, I altered them slightly. It was noticed quickly because people did use them a lot more than any of us thought ...

[cre8pc]

Further research:

Website Breadcrumbs, by Dr. Bob Bailey, August, 2003

States earlier findings that breadcrumb navigation

can lead to more efficient site navigation and improved user satisfaction

which conflicts with latest findings of low usage.

There may be a difference in usage based on user intent. For example, they increase navigation ease of use, but if relied upon to help FIND something, they are found to be less useful.

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

Excellent topic!

-- Yes, I use breadcrumbs. Especially on this forum, since they enable the forum to refresh the "visited" status of sections I've been to, something that doesn't happen reliably when you use the Back button. Ok, yeah, that's a corner case.

-- Yes, I design with them sometimes. When the information hierarchy goes below the menu navigation, I begin to grab for breadcrumbs. That is, say I have a menu bar with a Products menu and on that Products menu are Products A, B, and C. If those are the only pages, then breacrumbs serve no purpose. But let's say you get down to Product A, and Product A has a Standard and Professional edition, and there are separate, multi-page sections for each. Say I'm reading about the Pro edition and I decide I really only need the Standard edition. If the path "over there" only leads back up to the global menu and then back down several clicks, then I think breadcrumbs serve a purpose because they help you traverse back up and over in fewer steps.

Here's one thing I haven't seen in the studies (or might have missed): whether the mere existence of breadcrumbs gets in the way of users who don't use them. In other words, I don't think there's a "usability penalty" to including when they're done right. They are helpful to those customers who use them, and don't hinder the ones who don't. So including a breadcrumb may never be "wrong" but not including it may be wrong for some sites.

I think of breadcrumbs in the same way I think of shortcut keys. Ever watch a power user flash through a complex chore, never using the mouse but using shortcut keys to do it all. Awesome. I can't begin to match it. But the vast majority of software users never use more than a few standard shortcut keys. Does that mean we eliminate them because "no one uses them"? Of course not. They don't get in the way, so we include them for power users and us "normal" users can continue to mouse. Same with breadcrumbs.

[cre8pc]

Thanks Frank! Glad you like the topic. I've been marveling myself at how strange it is, sometimes, that the oddest things in design can be so tantalizing, frustrating, curious or a mystery.

Such as breadcrumb navigation :shock:

[bwelford]

Just registering my strong vote for breadcrumbs on any site where there are at least two levels of sub-pages below the home page. Most of what needs to be said has been said in the excellent contributions above. I believe they help visitors to situate themselves, even if they don't use them. It's a bit like street names. Of course they also help the search engine spiders to work their way around as well, which can't be bad.

[cre8pc]

For reference, there is an excellent post by member "Scratch" on how to design with breadcrumbs,located in the Web Design section of the forums.

http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/viewtopic.p...p?p=97699#97699