path or location breadcrumbs

We are working on a redesign of the Website where I work, and the discussion
of breadcrumbs has come up . Our current site uses location breadcrumbs, but
someone has brought up the thought of using path breadcrumbs.

Are there any usability studies that show which one works better?

Doug

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 18:39:18 GMT from Doug <dgeiste (AT) REMOVEsnet (DOT) net>:

We are working on a redesign of the Website where I work, and the discussion
of breadcrumbs has come up . Our current site uses location breadcrumbs, but
someone has brought up the thought of using path breadcrumbs.

Are there any usability studies that show which one works better?

Can you explain the difference between them?

Normally I'd suggest http://useit.com for usability advice, but both
"bread crumbs" and "breadcrumbs" came up empty in search.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
HTML 4.01 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/
validator: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS 2.1 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/
validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Why We Won't Help You:
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/05/05/why_we_wont_help_you

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 12:09:59 +0000 from Safalra <usenet (AT) safalra (DOT) com>:

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:41:44 -0500, Stan Brown wrote:
Wed, 22 Mar 2006 18:39:18 GMT from Doug <dgeiste (AT) REMOVEsnet (DOT) net>:
We are working on a redesign of the Website where I work, and
the discussion of breadcrumbs has come up . Our current site
uses location breadcrumbs, but someone has brought up the
thought of using path breadcrumbs.

Are there any usability studies that show which one works better?

Can you explain the difference between them?

'Location breadcrumbs' show the page's logical location within the site.
'Path breadcrumbs' show the user's path through the site, thus uselessly
duplicating the function of the back button while not helping the user
understand their position within the site.

Thanks. You answered my question and the OP's at once. :-)

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
HTML 4.01 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/
validator: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS 2.1 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/
validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Why We Won't Help You:
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/05/05/why_we_wont_help_you

So, just to make sure it's clear, and from a usability perspective, path
breadcrumbs are less usable based on the fact that you don't know where you
are in the site. And by using location breadcrumbs, the user knows where
they are within the site and can always use the back button to get back to a
specific page.

I'd still like to know if there are any usability studies on this subject.


"Safalra" <usenet (AT) safalra (DOT) com> wrote

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:41:44 -0500, Stan Brown wrote:
Wed, 22 Mar 2006 18:39:18 GMT from Doug <dgeiste (AT) REMOVEsnet (DOT) net>:
We are working on a redesign of the Website where I work, and the
discussion
of breadcrumbs has come up . Our current site uses location breadcrumbs,
but
someone has brought up the thought of using path breadcrumbs.

Are there any usability studies that show which one works better?

Can you explain the difference between them?

'Location breadcrumbs' show the page's logical location within the site.
'Path breadcrumbs' show the user's path through the site, thus uselessly
duplicating the function of the back button while not helping the user
understand their position within the site.

--
Safalra (Stephen Morley)
http://www.safalra.com/hypertext/

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 15:38:36 GMT from Doug <dgeiste (AT) REMOVEsnet (DOT) net>:

So, just to make sure it's clear, and from a usability perspective, path
breadcrumbs are less usable based on the fact that you don't know where you
are in the site.

And also because they offer needless duplication of the user's Back
button.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
HTML 4.01 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/
validator: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS 2.1 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/
validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Why We Won't Help You:
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/05/05/why_we_wont_help_you