Website navigation: Are breadcrumbs still useful today?
I just read an article by Noah Davis in which he argues that breadcrumbs have lost their relevance in modern, non-linear and context-driven web environments. Instead, dynamic and personalized navigation systems are coming to the fore, which respond better to users' expectations and adapt individually to their needs. This means that navigation is no longer linear, but purely context-related and needs-oriented. Breadcrumb navigation isherefore useless.
We decide where to go
In his article, it becomes clear how immature website operators want to keep their users. Getting ever deeper into the morass of their own thoughts and thematic worlds - under the pretext of user-friendliness - seems to be the marketing goal. I think this approach is very dangerous in the times we live in. After all, it's not just how we navigate a website in isolation; our surfing behavior on individual pages has a major impact on our overall online experience (if we don't protect ourselves from being tracked). This controlled focus on our own topics deprives us of the opportunity to look to the right and left, to direct our own gaze towards the unknown. We remain trapped in our own world of experience.
With Empathy: Understanding How People Move
The way people move on websites is very different – some search specifically for information, others let themselves be guided by content, while others prefer a clear navigation structure. A good information architecture should consider all of these behaviors.
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The Focused or Impatient: Where is the Search Function?
There are people with little time who use the search function of a website specifically and in an entirely isolated manner. They enter terms and expect a precise list of hits. If they find what they are looking for, they are satisfied and move on through the website. Here, I consider orientation with the help of a breadcrumb to be very useful, because it is always important in which context I find myself (e.g. am I on a technical page in the area of users or developers?). -
The Structured Thinker
These users are interested in a specific topic, they prefer clear structures, and they orient themselves by the navigation, categories, or breadcrumb navigation to understand their location and switch between levels in a targeted way. -
The Curious – The Perfect Prey for Algorithms
This group moves through a page's content by following links and algorithmically suggested content. They are guided by interesting topics and jump from one article or product to the next. Platforms like YouTube or Netflix are based on this principle and keep users engaged as long as possible with an endless stream of new content. A website without breadcrumbs forces users into a predefined, algorithm-controlled, and seemingly need-based navigation. They lose the ability to decide where they are and how they can jump back. Instead of an inclusive and versatile navigation, a website is created that only aims to artificially increase the duration of stay. The user is no longer a free being with their own decision-making power but becomes a victim of algorithms.
Respect for Our Users
As web developers, our responsibility is to understand the diversity of user behavior and design the navigation to meet the needs of all our users. At the same time, we should be aware that by using algorithmically suggested content, we directly influence the opinions and experiences of our users. A website whose navigation adapts in real-time to the needs of its users may seem user-friendly at first, but it raises a significant ethical issue.
If we analyze user behavior and deliberately display content according to their apparent needs – something that requires the collection of user data – we limit intellectual diversity. Critical engagement and viewing from different perspectives is no longer possible.
This is not the internet I ever wanted.