breadcrumb

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A tiny piece of bread, either one that falls from bread as it is cut or eaten, or one…

   A tiny piece of bread, either one that falls from bread as it is cut or eaten, or one made deliberately by crumbling bread.

2. 2

   A single link in a chain indicating the hierarchical location of a directory, web page or…

   A single link in a chain indicating the hierarchical location of a directory, web page or similar, used as a navigation aid.

   • Breadcrumbs usually look something like this: "Home > About Us > Staff" and are positioned near the top navigation. […] The words in the breadcrumbs are links to pages at higher levels of the website.
3. 3

   A fragment of data that serves to log the actions taken by a program, used in debugging.

   • If you believe the system can merrily proceed despite an assertion failure, code the exception handler to log the error, leaving debugging breadcrumbs behind, and return.
   • […] track metrics used to improve performance, or log a series of breadcrumbs to track an application's progress, […]
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      One in a series of clues leading to a person or place.

   2. 5

      To sprinkle breadcrumbs on to food, normally before cooking.

      • All this breadcrumbing finished, you can put the meat on a grid over a baking dish and leave it until you are ready to cook it.
      • Said chef then proceeds to cough slimy phlegm all over the veal before it is breadcrumbed.
      • A Swede can't imagine a more summery food than breadcrumbed Baltic herring fillets stuffed with dill or parsley and soused in an oldfashioned vinegar
   3. 6

      To add navigational breadcrumbs to (a web page or user interface).

      • Along those same lines, creating separate folders can enable you to use "breadcrumbing," which is another navigation aid (discussed in the section "Determining How to Organize the Information," later in this chapter).
      • One navigational technique—breadcrumbing—is like having a “You Are Here” store directory in each aisle.
      • The most striking change from previous versions of Windows is that Vista displays the path using a method called breadcrumbing.
   4. 7

      To use clues or enticements to lead someone in the desired direction.

      • The process of breadcrumbing is the means by which a game writer can lead the player forward with a trail of clues, or the level designers can lead the player via more physical symbols.
      • I consider where more landmarks are needed and other changes for better flow and breadcrumbing.

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