Human Factors International provides an interesting analysis of breadcrumb navigation on Web sites.
> 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.
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> 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.
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> But breadcrumbs are only beneficial if users notice them. And largely, they don’t. Or maybe they do and they are telling us something.