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Resistance to using breadcrumbs

Kath Straub has written an article exploring user resistance to breadcrumbs, and the issues surrounding their use in general. To quote:

The resistance to using breadcrumbs is perplexing. They increase efficiency. They support site learning. They reduce the user's "where-was-I?" memory burden by providing a list of recently visited pages. They make it easier to cross levels of the navigation decision tree within the browse environment.

Breadcrumbs make site learning and navigation more efficient. And it's the designer's job to enhance efficiency, right? So we continue to design sites with breadcrumbs. But breadcrumbs are only beneficial if users notice them. And largely, they don't. Or maybe they do and they are telling us something.

Posted by jamesr on October 19, 2004 04:52 PM
Categories: Information architecture