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I have the following hierarchy

Home Page

-> Tools

->-> Campaign Editor

->-> Scheduling

->-> Packs

-> Analytics

->-> User

->-> Campaigns

->-> Packs

Is it ok to have a breadcrumb navigation like this:

Home Page > User > Campaigns > Packs

Instead of:

Home Page > Analytics > User

The issue is that Analytics is just a dropdown and there's no Analytics page, it's just a label for the three pages under it.

How do you call such breadcrumb nav?

Sayaman
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1 Answers1

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This overlaps a question here: How to deal with jumps in a navigation flow?

The two proposed navigation support options in this question address the concepts presented there. If the user navigates to the page "Packs", this location can be represented as either a:

Breadcrumb trail: Home Page > User > Campaigns > Packs

...the path taken to arrive at current location, or a:

Sitemap: Home Page > Analytics > Packs

...the location of current page within the application structure.

Consider, with this distinction in mind, "Analytics" being a grouping of subpages, and not a destination itself, may not be appropriate as a step along a breadcrumb trail, but rather an important part of the application structure. And it can be represented in a location map as a dropdown, or give it a page that simply presents its subpages.

 

Both are helpful pieces of information for the user to know. What does your subject matter research and observational user testing indicate is appropriate for the UX?

Another helpful strategy is to incorporate visual cues which concept is used. Breadcrumbs typically at the top/left, sitemaps may be at the bottom, particularly if already using a breadcrumb trail.

And delimiters can help distinguish a trail from a map. Arrows naturally for trails, bullets or bars for maps.

Home Page → User → Campaigns → Packs

Home Page • Analytics • Packs

 

Labeling or icons improve conceptualization:

Path: Home Page → User → Campaigns → Packs

Map: Home Page • Analytics • Packs

bloodyKnuckles
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  • What about just showing: Campaign Editor . Scheduling . Packs ? Is this ok? What kind of breadcrumb would this be? – Sayaman Dec 30 '22 at 17:05
  • Campaign Editor . Scheduling . Packs Since that's not the structure of the app, it must be the sequence of pages how the user arrived at Packs. Question—there's two Packs in your site structure, are they different, or the same page? – bloodyKnuckles Dec 30 '22 at 18:11
  • They're different, those three are just standalone pages. – Sayaman Dec 30 '22 at 18:25