Breadcrumb Navigation Summary
I decided to read this article because I knew the importantance of navigation but I had no idea what breadcrumb navigation was. Therefore, in an attempt to keep aloft of all issues and terms that are significant in web design, I made the desicion to educate myself. The article starts off by simply explaining what breadcrumb navigation is. Despite my ignorance of the term "breadcrumb navigation" I have seen it used quite frequently. It is basically the list of links on the top right hand of the website that helps you keep track of how far deep you have moved into that website and allows you to backtrack. It is a sort of secondary navigation, and is not intended to take the place of basic navigation at all. Nielsen recommends using it but it is not essensial to a websites sucess.
There are several reasons why Nielsen recommends using breadcrumb navigation. First of all, if it is totally ignored by a user, it does the user no harm. However, some users like to have it, and miss it when it isn't used. Secondly, breadcrumb navigation is so simple and straightforward, it is almost impossible to mess up. When a website has breadcrumb navigaiton it looks exactly the same as it does on other pages. This consistency appeals to some web users. Also in their favor, breadcrumbs take up very little space, and never cause problems in user testing.
Nielsen also offers some tips on how to make sucessful breadcrumb navigation. First of all, he lays out the basic structure of this special form of secondary navigation. First, it progresses from the highest level to the lowest. Second, it starts with the homepage and ends with the current page. Thirdly, it has a simple text link for each level, except the current level which doesn't need a link. Finally, it has a single character separator suck as ">".
I can take several things from this article and implement them into my web development skills. First of all I can take the vocabulary I've learned here, and be more savvy as I communicate with other web developers. I can also keep this idea in my back pocket, to use when the opportunity arises. A big part of creating a useful tool is understanding what that tool is capapble of. This article has brought me a little bit closer to understanding the possiblities available to web developers.
To read this article visit this alertbox link.
March 31, 2008 12:07 PM