Kruimelpad

Kruimelpad, in web design often called breadcrumb navigation in English, is a navigational aid that reveals the user’s location within the hierarchical structure of a website. It typically appears near the top of a page as a horizontal sequence of links, beginning with the home page and ending with the current page, with visual separators such as chevrons or arrows.

Purpose and benefits: It helps users understand the site's structure, provides quick access to higher-level categories, and can improve search engine visibility when marked up with structured data. It is especially common on e-commerce sites, large content portals, and CMS-driven sites with deep hierarchies.

Structure and implementation: A kruimelpad is usually implemented as an ordered list of links. Semantically it is marked up with a nav element and an accessible label, and many sites add microdata or JSON-LD to provide a BreadcrumbList for search engines. Best practices include keeping it concise, displaying no more than a few levels, and ensuring it is keyboard- and screen-reader friendly.

Variations and practical notes: In some interfaces the crumb trail is vertical or collapsible, and in file managers or operating systems the breadcrumb bar reflects the current folder path. While useful for orientation, kruimels can be omitted on small screens if space is limited, or simplified to a single back button.