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Why do we call it breadcrumbs? Diving into the history of UI components

Megan Ng
UX Collective
Published in
4 min readJun 17, 2022

It started off with a toast. As I was crisping my bread, I wondered why UI notifications were called ‘toasts’. Curious, I started digging into the etymology of UI components.

Toast

Image of a toaster vs UI Notifications today
How do you like your toast?

When your toast is ready, it pops up from the toaster to signal that to you. Similarly, toast notifications are time-based UI elements used to display short messages. Like breakfast toast, they also disappear in a few seconds.

Breadcrumbs

Image of a breadcrumbs vs UI breadcrumbs navigation today
Not a mouse trap

More bread-inspired terms?

“Breadcrumbs” are a metaphor for leaving a trail behind, which is the modern-day term for UI navigation patterns. Breadcrumbs navigation helps a user understand the hierarchy among levels and navigate back through them.

Radio buttons

Image of a old radio buttons vs UI radio buttons today
Who killed the radio star?

A relic from history, the name “radio button” comes from the actual physical buttons that were used in old radios. Push one in and the others pop out.

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