Plugins That We Recommend – Breadcrumb NavXT
Breadcrumb NavXT is the successor to the popular WordPress plugin Breadcrumb Navigation XT and this plugin generates locational breadcrumb trails for your WordPress powered blog or website. Among the many thousands of plugins generated by the WordPress community this can be rated as one of the most useful, as it helps to link pages through the use of Breadcrumb trails. These breadcrumb trails can be customized to suit the requirements of any kind of website that runs WordPress. With an interface for easy administration, setting of options is a simple affair an a direct class access is available for developers of themes and more sophisticated users.
How it works
Breadcrumb NavXT is a WordPress plugin compatible with WordPress versions 3.0 and upwards. Breadcrumb trails are a good supplementary navigation system as it helps in using the site in a methodical way. We found this is particularly true for those that use WordPress as a CMS. These Breadcrumbs usually appear below the title bars or headers at the top of a web page and facilitate links to each previous page that the user has gone through to arrive at the current page. This creates a trail for the user to get back to the starting point and this is quite a popular addition in websites to enable users to identify their location on it.
Mtekk and Hakre created Breadcrumb NavXT that has a new PHP function to help in the formation of a dynamic Breadcrumb. We recommend it as we find that there are numerous options for configuration that enable you to manage the Breadcrumbs on your blog or website.
Features
As Breadcrumb NavXT reveals the page hierarchy in a consistent manner, it can provide SEO benefits. If websites have a number of pages, breadcrumb navigation makes moving around easier and quicker. It also acts as a visual aid as it shows the location of the user within the hierarchy of the website, thereby making it an effective source of contextual information as far as the landing page is concerned. Breadcrumb navigation increased page views and also makes visitors get deeper into the content. We find that using this plugin enhances the visitor-to-page-view ratio considerably. If your blog or website has this problem, we recommend the Breadcrumb NavXT to be the solution.
With Breadcrumb NavXT 3.2.0 you can import and export your settings to/from a XML file. There are several other useful features that we believe are essential for a WordPress-enabled website or blog. You can place the breadcrumb trail in reverse order and it also enables you to output each breadcrumb wrapped in <'li> tags.
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits of using Breadcrumb NavXT:
- User Convenience:
- It is a good supplementary method of navigation. On a multiple page website, the visitor can move around and go to higher categories easily and quickly. The visitor does not have to keep clicking on the ‘back’ button every time to navigate from one page to another. Visitors can utilize the breadcrumb trail to go back and forth on the website without any problem.
- Less screen space:
- The Breadcrumb NavXT uses very little space on the screen, as the breadcrumbs are all neatly arranged horizontally at the top of the page and are simply styled. There is no content overload and if used correctly the plugin is extremely useful for additional navigation.
- Visitor Retention:
- The Breadcrumb NavXT is a great tool to attract first-time viewers to go through your website, after they come to the landing page. The breadcrumb trail would be a way to tempt them to click on to view the higher category of web pages and get to know more about the subject. This ensures greater visitor retention which in turn results in greater profits.

