Category: WordPress

Breadcrumbs or breadcrumb trail is a navigation aid used in a Website. It gives users a way to keep track of their locations within the Website. Breadcrumbs typically appear horizontally at the top of a Web page. Breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting or entry point.

Breadcrumb trail is an important supplementary element of a Website´s navigation, especially for complex Websites. It improves usability, enhances user experience and it is better for SEO. Don´t take my word for it, Google recommends using Breadcrumbs in their SEO starter guide. Also Google is integrating breadcrumbs navigation within the Search Engine Results Pages.

Breadcrumbs are especially useful for complex Websites containing many pages and sub-pages, and organized into many categories. On the other hand, breadcrumbs for simple Websites are not really necessary.

The picture below shows examples of breadcrumb trails generated from this blog. This blog is using the breadcrumb code shown below, browse the various sections of this blog and see how it behaves.

There is one disadvantage of using breadcrumbs, it increases the number of query requests to your database, and thus a slighter increase in load time. However, this could be neutralized with a caching mechanism implemented to your Website. Again, haven´t you read my previous post about the advantages of caching a dynamic Webiste? I believe that the benefits of breadcrumbs: better user experience, and making the Website friendlier for Search Engines, far outweighs its one disadvantage. Breadcrumb navigation is important for usability and for SEO, especially for complex Websites.

My Breadcrumbs Code: Supported Features

The code below display breadcrumb trail for:

1. Single post listed in one category.
2. Single post listed in multiple categories that are at the same level.
3. Category and sub-category archives.
4. Tag archive.
5. Yearly archive.
6. Monthly archive.
7. Daily archive.
8. Author archive.
9. Search result page.
10. Top-level pages (top-level menu).
11. Multi-level sub-pages (multi-level sub-menus).
12. 404 Not found Error page.

The code below also features:

1. Complete or shortened post titles.
2. Two custom delimiters. Same level categories use a different delimiter.

Also the code below works in both cases when:

1. Your Website´s Front page displays your latest posts.
2. Your Website´s Front page displays a static page and your posts are located somewhere else.

To better explain: the default WordPress settings is shown below. If you choose the other option: “Front page displays -> a static page (select below)”, the breadcrumb code still works.

My Breadcrumbs Code: NOT Supported Features

The code below does not support:

1. Adding a page number at the end of the trail.
2. Attachments.
3. Custom post types.
4. Custom taxonomies.
5. A single post listed in a top category AND in a subcategory (or subcategories). An unlikely case, where you get a mix up of delimiters.

WordPress Breadcrumbs Function Code

This is my version of the WordPress breadcrumbs code. Open the functions.php file located in your theme´s folder and add (copy and paste) the following function. Sorry for the long code, but I commented it so you understand better what´s going on.

Note: To scroll within the code: You can also click on the code window and use your keyboard´s arrow keys.

CODE-1:

<?php
function wp_bac_breadcrumb() {   
    //Variable (symbol >> encoded) and can be styled separately.
    //Use >> for different level categories (parent >> child >> grandchild)
            $delimiter = '<span class="delimiter"> &raquo; </span>'; 
    //Use bullets for same level categories ( parent . parent )
    $delimiter1 = '<span class="delimiter1"> &bull; </span>';
     
    //text link for the 'Home' page
            $main = 'Home';  
    //Display only the first 30 characters of the post title.
            $maxLength= 30;
     
    //variable for archived year 
    $arc_year = get_the_time('Y'); 
    //variable for archived month 
    $arc_month = get_the_time('F'); 
    //variables for archived day number + full
    $arc_day = get_the_time('d');
    $arc_day_full = get_the_time('l');  
     
    //variable for the URL for the Year
    $url_year = get_year_link($arc_year);
    //variable for the URL for the Month    
    $url_month = get_month_link($arc_year,$arc_month);
 
    /*is_front_page(): If the front of the site is displayed, whether it is posts or a Page. This is true 
    when the main blog page is being displayed and the 'Settings > Reading ->Front page displays' 
    is set to "Your latest posts", or when 'Settings > Reading ->Front page displays' is set to 
    "A static page" and the "Front Page" value is the current Page being displayed. In this case 
    no need to add breadcrumb navigation. is_home() is a subset of is_front_page() */
     
    //Check if NOT the front page (whether your latest posts or a static page) is displayed. Then add breadcrumb trail.
    if (!is_front_page()) {         
        //If Breadcrump exists, wrap it up in a div container for styling. 
        //You need to define the breadcrumb class in CSS file.
        echo '<div class="breadcrumb">';
         
        //global WordPress variable $post. Needed to display multi-page navigations. 
        global $post, $cat;         
        //A safe way of getting values for a named option from the options database table. 
        $homeLink = get_option('home'); //same as: $homeLink = get_bloginfo('url');
        //If you don't like "You are here:", just remove it.
        echo 'You are here: <a href="' . $homeLink . '">' . $main . '</a>' . $delimiter;    
         
        //Display breadcrumb for single post
        if (is_single()) { //check if any single post is being displayed.           
            //Returns an array of objects, one object for each category assigned to the post.
            //This code does not work well (wrong delimiters) if a single post is listed 
            //at the same time in a top category AND in a sub-category. But this is highly unlikely.
            $category = get_the_category();
            $num_cat = count($category); //counts the number of categories the post is listed in.
             
            //If you have a single post assigned to one category.
            //If you don't set a post to a category, WordPress will assign it a default category.
            if ($num_cat <=1)  //I put less or equal than 1 just in case the variable is not set (a catch all).
            {
                echo get_category_parents($category[0],  true,' ' . $delimiter . ' ');
                //Display the full post title.
                echo ' ' . get_the_title(); 
            }
            //then the post is listed in more than 1 category.  
            else { 
                //Put bullets between categories, since they are at the same level in the hierarchy.
                echo the_category( $delimiter1, multiple); 
                    //Display partial post title, in order to save space.
                    if (strlen(get_the_title()) >= $maxLength) { //If the title is long, then don't display it all.
                        echo ' ' . $delimiter . trim(substr(get_the_title(), 0, $maxLength)) . ' ...';
                    }                         
                    else { //the title is short, display all post title.
                        echo ' ' . $delimiter . get_the_title(); 
                    } 
            }           
        } 
        //Display breadcrumb for category and sub-category archive
        elseif (is_category()) { //Check if Category archive page is being displayed.
            //returns the category title for the current page. 
            //If it is a subcategory, it will display the full path to the subcategory. 
            //Returns the parent categories of the current category with links separated by '»'
            echo 'Archive Category: "' . get_category_parents($cat, true,' ' . $delimiter . ' ') . '"' ;
        }       
        //Display breadcrumb for tag archive        
        elseif ( is_tag() ) { //Check if a Tag archive page is being displayed.
            //returns the current tag title for the current page. 
            echo 'Posts Tagged: "' . single_tag_title("", false) . '"';
        }        
        //Display breadcrumb for calendar (day, month, year) archive
        elseif ( is_day()) { //Check if the page is a date (day) based archive page.
            echo '<a href="' . $url_year . '">' . $arc_year . '</a> ' . $delimiter . ' ';
            echo '<a href="' . $url_month . '">' . $arc_month . '</a> ' . $delimiter . $arc_day . ' (' . $arc_day_full . ')';
        } 
        elseif ( is_month() ) {  //Check if the page is a date (month) based archive page.
            echo '<a href="' . $url_year . '">' . $arc_year . '</a> ' . $delimiter . $arc_month;
        } 
        elseif ( is_year() ) {  //Check if the page is a date (year) based archive page.
            echo $arc_year;
        }       
        //Display breadcrumb for search result page
        elseif ( is_search() ) {  //Check if search result page archive is being displayed. 
            echo 'Search Results for: "' . get_search_query() . '"';
        }       
        //Display breadcrumb for top-level pages (top-level menu)
        elseif ( is_page() && !$post->post_parent ) { //Check if this is a top Level page being displayed.
            echo get_the_title();
        }           
        //Display breadcrumb trail for multi-level subpages (multi-level submenus)
        elseif ( is_page() && $post->post_parent ) {  //Check if this is a subpage (submenu) being displayed.
            //get the ancestor of the current page/post_id, with the numeric ID 
            //of the current post as the argument. 
            //get_post_ancestors() returns an indexed array containing the list of all the parent categories.                
            $post_array = get_post_ancestors($post);
             
            //Sorts in descending order by key, since the array is from top category to bottom.
            krsort($post_array); 
             
            //Loop through every post id which we pass as an argument to the get_post() function. 
            //$post_ids contains a lot of info about the post, but we only need the title. 
            foreach($post_array as $key=>$postid){
                //returns the object $post_ids
                $post_ids = get_post($postid);
                //returns the name of the currently created objects 
                $title = $post_ids->post_title; 
                //Create the permalink of $post_ids
                echo '<a href="' . get_permalink($post_ids) . '">' . $title . '</a>' . $delimiter;
            }
            the_title(); //returns the title of the current page.               
        }           
        //Display breadcrumb for author archive   
        elseif ( is_author() ) {//Check if an Author archive page is being displayed.
            global $author;
            //returns the user's data, where it can be retrieved using member variables. 
            $user_info = get_userdata($author);
            echo  'Archived Article(s) by Author: ' . $user_info->display_name ;
        }       
        //Display breadcrumb for 404 Error 
        elseif ( is_404() ) {//checks if 404 error is being displayed 
            echo  'Error 404 - Not Found.';
        }       
        else {
            //All other cases that I missed. No Breadcrumb trail.
        }
       echo '</div>';     
    }   
}
?>

After adding the above function in your functions.php file, copy and paste the code below in the header.php file located in your theme´s folder. Place the following code where you want the breadcrumb trail to appear.

CODE-2:

<?php 
    //function_exists() — Return TRUE if the given function has been defined.
    //Adding breadcrumb trail to the WordPress theme.
    if (function_exists('wp_bac_breadcrumb')) {wp_bac_breadcrumb();} 
?>

The easiest way is to place the above code (CODE-2) in your theme´s header.php file. If you decide otherwise, then you need to place it in multiple files like: single.php, archive.php, search.php, page.php (custom-page.php if you have one) and probably in other files depending on your theme. Did you get the point that adding it to the header.php is simpler?

Styling the Breadcrumbs

Finally we need to style the breadcrumb trail with CSS. The following code is what I used to style the breadcrumb navigation for this blog. The code should be added to your theme´s CSS file (usually called style.css). Of course go ahead and change it to fit your design.

.breadcrumb{
    width:645px;
    float:left;
    padding:0 0 0 47px;
    margin:9px 0 0 0;
    font-size:90%;
    clear:both;
}
.delimiter{
    color:#000;
    background-color:inherit;
}
.delimiter1{
    color: #627FC3;
    background-color:inherit;
}

You now have the breadcrumbs code that can be used on any WordPress Website.