Navigational Aids in Web Development: Understanding Breadcrumbs and Their Importance for Your Website
Breadcrumb navigation is a secondary yet essential tool in website design, enhancing user experience by clearly indicating the user's current location within a website's hierarchy. This navigation method, first popularized by Microsoft in Windows Vista, has become a staple for complex websites, particularly e-commerce platforms.
Placement and Design
Breadcrumbs are typically located near the top of the page, just below the navigation bar and directly above the content title. They appear as a horizontal list of clickable links, often divided by arrows (>). To maintain visual hierarchy, it's best to keep breadcrumbs smaller than the main navigation toolbar, ensuring the main navigation remains the dominant feature on the page.
For improved visibility and ranking in search engines, it's recommended to use schema (structured data) breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs should also be easy to see, with contrasting colours to enhance visibility.
Types of Breadcrumbs
There are three main types of breadcrumbs in web design: Hierarchy-Based Breadcrumbs, Path-Based Breadcrumbs, and Attribute-Based Breadcrumbs. The choice of breadcrumb type depends on the site's structure.
Hierarchy-Based Breadcrumbs are ideal for sites with multiple folder-like levels, where the hierarchy is clear and straightforward.
Path-Based Breadcrumbs, on the other hand, are better suited for tracking user journeys on sites with varied navigation paths.
Attribute-Based Breadcrumbs are particularly useful for e-commerce sites, allowing users to filter products by attributes like brand, size, or category.
Best Practices
To maximise the benefits of breadcrumb navigation, it's essential to follow some best practices:
- Include the full navigational path: From the homepage to the current page, so users understand the website’s hierarchy, even if they arrive on a deep page directly.
- Use a left-to-right layout: With the homepage on the left and the current page on the right, following natural reading patterns which aids usability.
- Highlight the current page (last item): In bold or contrasting style, without linking it, to clearly indicate the user’s present location on the site.
- Only link previous breadcrumb items: Not the current page, so users can easily navigate back through the hierarchy without redundant links.
- Apply breadcrumbs mainly to websites with complex or multi-level structures: Such as eCommerce sites or large content sites; avoid them on single-page or very simple linear sites to prevent clutter.
- Maintain accessible and intuitive design: By ensuring each page remains reachable within 2–3 clicks from the homepage, with breadcrumbs reinforcing this structure.
- When linking in breadcrumbs, consider user flow: Typically, links open in the same tab to keep navigation natural, but use new tabs if it benefits user experience.
- Ensure breadcrumbs improve internal linking: To help both users and search engines understand site structure and distribute link authority effectively, which supports SEO.
Accessibility Benefits
Breadcrumb navigation also provides critical accessibility benefits, as it is a WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant navigation solution. Examples of websites that use breadcrumb navigation effectively include Serena & Lily, Penn Foster, and Brooklinen.
By following these best practices, you can make navigation easier, increase engagement, and streamline the website and user experience for smoother navigation journeys. Clear, full page titles for breadcrumbs also contribute to this improved user experience.
[1] Baymard Institute [2] Google Search Central [3] Moz [4] Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) [5] SEO Best Practices Guide
Technology plays a crucial role in the implementation and enhancement of breadcrumb navigation, especially through structured data schema that improves visibility and ranking in search engines. The use of different types of breadcrumbs, such as Hierarchy-Based, Path-Based, and Attribute-Based, also relies on various web design technologies.
For effective breadcrumb navigation, it's important to leverage technology to maintain an accessible, intuitive, and visually appealing design. This includes the use of contrasting colors, efficient linking strategies, and employing best practices like keeping breadcrumbs smaller than the main navigation toolbar.
