I find breadcrumbs very good as support navigation in web applications,
particularly when there are potential diverging paths depending on the
choices the user makes. An example: Application has 2 paths -- Search for
Payments and Create Payment Template. User searches on an historical payment
they have made (Search Path) and views the results... then they look at the
detail of an individual item and then choose to clone that payment as a
template. While there were two main paths in the nav at the top of the app
when they follow the paths further the boundaries of the two paths change. I
find keeping the 'historical' path helps users keep relevance... even has a
bit of a security blanket feeling, as I (as designer) am not suddenly
jumping them into the 'Create Templates' path without their awareness.

Anastasia


-----------------
Anastasia Fischer
Customer Experience Consulting
Tel: 207.596.5549