One of the things I always try to include in all of my WordPress themes is a breadcrumb menu. That way, users don’t have to fiddle around in the template files and test out a lot of other plugins. So, I’ve been building up my breadcrumb script for well over a year now.
I figured it was about time to release it to everyone else.
I realize there’s quite a few other plugins out there that provide breadcrumb menus, so I’m not going to try and convince you why my plugin is better than any of the others. I’ll just let you test drive it yourself. Of course, if you’re using one of my themes, you don’t have to worry about installing it because it’s already built in for you.
What does this plugin do?
It gives you a new template tag called breadcrumb_trail() that you can place anywhere in your theme. Once that’s done, it’ll display a hierarchical menu of where the current visitor is on your site. It’s quite useful if you have more than a few pages or posts.
It’s a navigational tool that outputs something like this: Browse: Home / Page / Sub-page.
Of course, you can change the output and style it however you want. Full instructions on how to use the plugin are located in the readme.html file, which is in the plugin download.
If you’re a theme developer, a couple of extra filter hooks have been provided for you: breadcrumb_trail_args and breadcrumb_trail. This way, you can add support for the plugin to your theme and have a lot more control over its output.
Download the plugin
If you’re using one of my WordPress themes, do not install this plugin. It is already built into your theme.
- Version: 0.1
- Requires: WordPress 2.5+
- Support: Support forums
- Download
- Download (WP.org plugin repository)
Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

Well, I’m using your theme in most every site I run but I guess this is an opportunity to take a closer look at how it’s built and learn 2 or 3 things
Thanks for always sharing.
oh ! another plugin !! so your plans for 2009 are going well !!
Many — Don’t look too closely. The files are a bit of a mess because I just ported it straight over from Hybrid. I plan on doing some major cleanup in the next version though.
dinu — Yep, my 2009 plugins plans are going well. I think this is the fifth plugin this year. I have a few other ideas, but I just have to find the time to turn them into plugins.
Hi, thanks for the plugin!
I have a question here, is it possible to display the breadcrumb-trai like:
Site Name/ Cat level 1/ Cat level 2/ Cat level 3/ Post Name
when the post link is?
I’m using this plugin and I see it shows the category name even it’s not in the link structure.
Here’s a post link of my site, please take a look and help me:
http://funnypleaze.com/wal-mart-coupons.php
Thank you
thanks, great plugin.
Thanks for sharing this handy plugin. May god bless you
Fatal Error in the New Hybrid 0.5.1 with old school
“Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare breadcrumb_trail() (previously declared in “”/wordpress/wp-content/themes/hybrid/library/extensions/breadcrumb-trail.php:35) in “”/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/breadcrumb-trail/breadcrumb-trail.php on line 51″
Worked on Hybrid 0.4.2.
Jason — And this is why I encourage people to read. It makes life much simpler.
Thanks for all the help…..I’ll work with it.
Thanks for a great plug-in, Justin!!
Funny was asking about showing the full breadcrumb of categories when you’re on a single post (currently it only shows the category to which the post belongs).
Here’s what I did as a mod for // Single Posts
Might be a better way, but I just took Justin’s PARENT coding from Category Pages section and inserted it BEFORE you output the post’s category (or else they won’t be in the right order)
Thanks for a great plugin and all the work that goes into creating and maintaining it! Much appreciated.
This plug in don’t show or intact with one category at post of a specific category. Any Solution!!
The plugin works great except for sites that use a static home page. The page that the blog is on is not displayed. It should be: Home / Blog Page / Category etc… but instead the blog page is missing from all bread crumbs.
David Beck — It shows as it should. What you’re referring to is a limitation of WordPress and really has nothing to do with the plugin.
It’s a navigational tool that outputs something like this: Browse: Home / Page / Sub-page.
i cant find this
Anyway to put that in short code so I can place it only on some pages? Reason being I have a menu set up for my main pages, but I have other pages I would like it on. Thanks, your blog is nice!
I’m new php and just wanted to know if it is possible to not show the parent pages in the breadcrumb trail? The parent pages in the main navigation of the site aren’t clickable and aren’t going to have any content on them so I don’t want them to be accessiblefrom anywhere on the site.
thanks
nicola
Hello Justin
First of all, thanks for a very helpful site and a very nice plugin.
I was wondering if there is a way to show custom taxonomies in the breadcrumb trail as well? To use your movie database as an example;
Home > Actors > Tom Hanks
Thanks
Justin, I would like to know how to create (or at least how is called…) a dynamic menu, like the one in this site (http://romanceastral.ueuo.com/ – supress the link ok!).
Your plugin is very nice, thanks for develop it! ^-^
it works!
thank you very much