Understand the breadcrumb trail

Every page on a Govintra intranet except the homepage carries a breadcrumb trail under the header: Home, then the pages above the one you are on, then the page itself. The trail is built by the theme from where the page sits, so there is nothing to type and no plugin to install. This page explains how the trail is worked out for each kind of content, which settings it depends on, and what to check when a trail is not what you expected.

Switch off Breadcrumb NavXT

Intranets upgraded from the previous theme often still have the Breadcrumb NavXT plugin. It is no longer used, and the theme shows administrators a notice saying so. Deactivate it under Plugins; nothing on the site changes, because the theme’s own trail was already the one being shown.

How the trail is built

The first crumb is always Home, linking to the homepage. What follows depends on the kind of page:

  • Pages: each parent page in turn, then the page. So a page three levels down shows Home, its grandparent, its parent, then itself. A parent that is a draft, awaiting review or in the bin is left out for staff, so nobody is sent to a page that does not open; someone who can edit that parent still sees it.
  • News, blog posts, events, news updates, projects, vacancies and training courses: the module’s landing page, with any pages above it, then the item. The landing page is the one chosen on the Options, Modules screen for that module, such as the News page or Events page. If none is chosen, or the chosen page is not published, the trail goes straight from Home to the item.
  • Tasks and guides: the How do I? page, then the task’s category and any category above it, then the task. A chapter of a guide adds the guide before the chapter. A task in several categories uses the first one.
  • Teams: the Teams page, then each parent team, then the team.
  • Team news: the news group’s Landing page, with any pages above it, then the story. A group with no landing page uses the group’s own archive instead.
  • Staff profiles: the staff directory page, then the person; on the edit page, then Edit profile.
  • Wonderwall entries: the Wonderwall page, then the entry.
  • Category, news type, blog category, event type and course type pages: the module’s landing page, then any parent term, then the term. Most of these addresses now send the reader straight to the landing page filtered to that term, so the trail there is the landing page’s own.
  • Tag pages: Home, then “Tag:” and the tag’s name.
  • Forums: Forums, then each parent forum, then the forum, topic or reply, matching the forum’s own structure.
  • Search results: Home, then Search results.

The last crumb is the current page and is never a link. The homepage, and any page on the Home template, shows no trail at all. The “page not found” page shows none either.

Settings that shape the trail

The trail has no settings of its own. It reads three things you already set up:

  • Page parents. The Parent box under Page Attributes on pages, tasks and teams. Moving a page under a new parent changes its trail at once.
  • The module landing pages on the Modules screen: News page, News updates page, Blog page, Events page, Tasks page, Teams page, Projects page, Vacancies page, Training page and Wonderwall page. Choose the page that uses the matching listing template. See Module settings and options.
  • Landing page on each news group, under Team news, News groups, for team news stories.

Because the landing page’s own parents are included, putting the News page under an “Our organisation” page makes every news story’s trail read Home, Our organisation, News, then the story.

What the trail looks like

A single line of links in the small text size, each crumb separated by a chevron, wrapping onto a second line on a narrow screen rather than being cut short. It is marked up as navigation with the label “Breadcrumb” for screen readers, and the current page is announced as such. There are no colour or separator settings; a child theme can restyle it.

When a trail looks wrong

  • A story goes straight from Home to its title. The module’s landing page is not set, or the page chosen is unpublished. Check the Modules screen.
  • A task shows the wrong category. The task is in more than one category and the trail uses the first. Untick the categories it does not belong in.
  • A parent page is missing from the trail. It is a draft, awaiting review or in the bin. Publish it, or move the child elsewhere.
  • The trail points at the wrong “directory” page. Staff profiles use the first page found on the Staff directory template. Keep one page on that template.
  • A jargon buster entry shows no landing page. That is expected: some kinds of content have no landing page option and show Home then the entry.

For anything beyond these, a developer can change the crumbs on a site with the govintra_breadcrumb_items filter in a child theme, which receives the finished list before it is shown.

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