[KimDaBa] UI suggestion - Better Breadcrumbs

[Adrian Pinks]

Hi all.  I made an effort to check the archives to see whether this has 
been previously discussed.  My apologies if I'm treading over old 
ground.  I offer the following as a new KimDaBa user who has an 
interest in usability issues.

KimDaBa displays "breadcrumbs" in the status bar to show "where you
are".  I like the intent behind this, but I think the current
implementation could be better.

First, it seems as though the breadcrumbs are in reverse order.  I would 
expect that new breadcrumbs get added to the right of previous 
breadcrumbs, but instead they get added to the left. 

Second, I think the breadcrumbs are not prominent enough.  The status 
bar is at the bottom of the screen, where users rarely look.  I often 
have the sensation of feeling a little "lost" in KimDaBa, and I have to 
remind myself to look down at the status bar (and then get confused by 
the reverse order).

I've thought of some alternatives to the current implementation.

1. Put the breadcrumbs in a location bar similar to that in Konqueror.
 This could live in its own toolbar, or be added to the current
toolbar.  It would show the same thing that now appears in the status
bar, for eg,

George/White House/drunk

The user could navigate KimDaBa by directly editing the text in the
location bar, for example, selecting "White House" in the above example,
changing it to "Camp David", and hitting "Enter".

2. Use clickable breadcrumbs as commonly used on the web, where each
level in the hierarchy is a clickable link, allowing the user to
easily go back multiple levels with one click.  On the web they often 
appear something like this:

Shopping >> Men's Clothing >> Outdoor gear

3. Put the breadcrumbs in the application title bar.  This wouldn't be a 
major improvement on the status bar though.


Thoughts?