Breadcrumb navigation is the best way to determine where a page fits into the overall site structure. It tempts first-time visitors to go through the entire site after entering a page, reducing the overall bounce rate of the site; increasing internal links to the site and improving the user experience. There is no need for breadcrumb navigation in the vast majority of mobile websites.

Needs analysis

1. What is breadcrumb navigation and what is its role?

Breadcrumbs are a type of "history" application that helps to trace the way back, tell visitors where they are in the site, and how to get back.

Breadcrumb navigation is a linear approach to navigation that displays "main category > first category > second category > third category > > final content page".

2. Under what circumstances do users need to use breadcrumb navigation?

Websites with many layers (3 or more) and a lot of content. The main navigation is not enough or inconvenient to use to meet the needs of guiding users.

Users are not familiar with the site, they need to intuitively and clearly understand the current location, as well as the location of the current page in the entire site, how to come back. For example, the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is visited by a large number of new users.

Users have a need to read through the subordinate pages of a particular page. For example, students read important school website notices in sequence.

It is troublesome for users to go back to the previous level. For example, it is easy to misoperate, there are many steps to go back, there is a lack of shortcut entrances to higher-level pages, or it is inconvenient for users to operate themselves.

3. What kind of websites are breadcrumb navigation suitable for?

Breadcrumb navigation is suitable for websites with deep hierarchies. If there is only one level of categorization, the main navigation can already play a role in quick positioning, and there is no need to use breadcrumb navigation for flat architecture websites.

Since the breadcrumb navigation path is linear in structure, i.e., the next level of categorization must only belong to the previous level of categorization, the content of the site must be clearly divided, and there is no crossover. Otherwise, the breadcrumb navigation path is not unique, and the same category may appear in different paths, confusing users.

Currently, common websites with this structure include portals, e-commerce, and other deep hierarchies, and the organization of the content is classified logically and independently without crossover.