Update: the breadcrumb trail in the new SSP

We’ve heard your feedback regarding “breadcrumb navigation” in the new Self Service Portal and are treating this issue as a high priority.

Here's the challenge, as you've described it: when your SSP users move between pages, the breadcrumb trail doesn't show which page they came from. As a result, users no longer feel able to navigate back to the page they came from.

The breadcrumb itself won't change — its elements will stay as they are, because we deliberately chose not to use historical breadcrumbs. The reason is that users can reach the same page via multiple paths, so historical breadcrumbs show a different trail depending on how they got there. This breaks the mental model of "here's where I am on the site" - breadcrumbs become a record of clicks, not a navigational structure.

But we recognize that there is a need that has not yet been met.

Here's what we're doing about it. When someone lands on a page that the breadcrumb can't trace back, they'll see a banner naming the page they came from, with a link straight back to it. No more hunting for the browser back button.

Your SSP users stay in control: they can dismiss the banner everytime they see it, or choose "Don't show again" to turn it off for good. And as the application manager, you'll find a setting to switch these banners on or off for your whole SSP.

We're working on this over the next few weeks.

We'll post an update here as soon as we have more to share. Got questions in the meantime? Drop them in the comments below.