Hi Leif, As you can see form this reply, I think there are too many prblems with session based breadcrumbs. I have decided to have each link on the breadcrumb trial as a reusable PHP include, because I can't find a suitable script which meets my needs. Thanks Steven Price Web Developer Open University http://www.open.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: Murray @ PlanetThoughtful [mailto:lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: 12 May 2005 15:20 To: 'S.D.Price'; 'php-windows' Subject: RE: Breadcrumb trial as sessions > 1. I need to have a flat folder structure if a user goes down a level > the file will probably be in the same folder and will not be an index > file. > > 2. The development server url will be totally different form the live > url, so the breadcrumb trail won't work properly on both. > > Would it be possible to create a breadcrumb trail for the users > session, recording the pages they were on as they move through the > site, anyone know how this could be done? > > I know this isn't a consistent navigation, but if you have top level > links, search/sitemap/a-z index support - isn't it acceptable to have > one navigation interface which is customised to the users unique > visit? Breadcrumbs usually (or, at least, usually as I've seen them) represent 'specialization of information' (my own term -- there's probably a better 'official' term out there). By that I mean they represent a conceptual path to content. For example, in a site that reviews technology, a breadcrumb trail, when reading an article about Redhat, might look like: Home / Articles / Tech Articles / Linux Articles / Redhat Articles / Article About Current Release Of Redhat Even if the user clicked on a link on the main page that took them straight to the article about the current release of Redhat, the breadcrumb trail above remains relevant, since they've expressed an interest in Redhat, which implies an interest in Linux, which falls within the broader scope of technology articles etc. In this sense, the breadcrumb trail for each 'page' can usually be almost entirely derived from the way in which you categorize / organize your content, and shouldn't require sessions to implement (well, or at least, I've never had to use sessions to implement a breadcrumb trail previously). >From what you've written, though, it sounds like what you're trying to implement is a 'page visited trail', though I think this would eventually get confusing, particularly if a user visited a page, hit the back button, went back to the article, clicked on a link that took them to some entirely different part of the site and so on. It raises questions like, 'if a user visits the same page or content 3 times, do I show that link 3 times in their page trail? Is it more or less confusing, one way or the other?' You'd have to take into account the fact that people often follow non-linear / erratic pathways, and you might end up representing something like: Home / Article / Home / Tech Articles / Home / Product Reviews / Monitor Reviews / Home / Product Reviews / Search / Search Results / Article About New Game / Home Personally, I'd find that of little benefit as a user, but that's just me. Murray -- PHP Windows Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP Windows Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
