Boardwalk Block Guide

Breadcrumbs Block

Everything you need to set up and customize the Breadcrumbs block — from choosing a divider style and controlling typography to deciding how the current page appears in the navigation trail.

About

Breadcrumbs are a small navigation trail that shows visitors where they are on your website. They typically appear near the top of a page and display a clickable path like Home › Collections › Summer Sale, making it easy for shoppers to backtrack to a parent page without using the browser's back button.

In the Boardwalk theme, the Breadcrumbs block automatically generates this navigation trail based on the page hierarchy in your store. It works on product pages, collection pages, blog posts, and other standard Shopify pages. You can customize the divider character between each step, control whether the current page is visible or clickable, and adjust the typography and spacing to match your store's design.


How to Set Up the Breadcrumbs Block

Follow these steps to add breadcrumbs navigation to any page of your Shopify store using the Boardwalk theme.

1
Open the Theme Editor

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes, find Boardwalk, and click Customize. Use the page selector dropdown at the top center of the editor to navigate to the page where you want to display breadcrumbs (for example, a product page or collection page).

2
Add the Breadcrumbs Block

In the Theme Editor sidebar, find the section where you want breadcrumbs to appear (usually near the top of the page). Click Add block and choose Breadcrumbs from the list. The block will appear with a navigation trail generated from the current page's position in your store.

3
Choose a Divider Style

Click the Breadcrumbs block in the sidebar. Use the Divider dropdown to pick the character that separates each step in the trail. You can choose from a slash (/), pipe (|), bullet (•), or chevron (›).

4
Configure Current Page Visibility

Decide whether to show the current page as the last item in the breadcrumb trail by toggling Show current page. If you turn this on, you can also enable Link current page to make that last item a clickable link instead of plain text.

5
Adjust Typography and Spacing

Under the Typography heading in the block settings, select a text style and font size that fits your store's design. Then use the Padding settings to control the spacing above and below the breadcrumbs.

6
Save and Preview

Click Save in the Theme Editor. Preview your page to verify the breadcrumbs trail is displaying correctly and the links navigate to the expected pages.


Block Settings

These settings are available when you click on the Breadcrumbs block in the Theme Editor sidebar.

Breadcrumbs Block Settings

Divider

The character displayed between each step in the breadcrumb trail. Options: Slash /, Pipe |, Bullet •, or Chevron ›.

Show current page

When turned on, the name of the page the visitor is currently viewing appears as the last item in the breadcrumb trail. When turned off, the trail ends at the parent page.

Link current page

Makes the current page name a clickable link instead of plain text. This setting only appears when Show current page is turned on.

Text style

Sets the font family used for the breadcrumb text. Options: Heading, Body, Caption, or Menu. Each option uses the corresponding font defined in your theme's typography settings.

Font size

Controls the size of the breadcrumb text. The available range depends on the text style you choose. Heading ranges from 12px to 40px, Body from 10px to 30px, Caption from 8px to 30px, and Menu from 10px to 30px.

Padding top

Controls the amount of space above the breadcrumbs. Range: 0px to 40px (in 4px increments). On mobile screens, this value is automatically reduced to 75% of the desktop value.

Padding bottom

Controls the amount of space below the breadcrumbs. Range: 0px to 40px (in 4px increments). On mobile screens, this value is automatically reduced to 75% of the desktop value.


Built-In Features

The Breadcrumbs block comes with features that work automatically — no apps or custom code needed.

Feature Overview

Automatic page hierarchy

The breadcrumb trail is generated automatically based on where the current page sits in your store's structure. For example, a product inside a collection will show Home › Collection Name › Product Name. You don't need to configure each link manually.

Works across page types

Breadcrumbs work on product pages, collection pages, blog posts, and other standard Shopify pages. The trail adapts to each page type, always reflecting the correct path from the homepage.

Flexible divider styles

Choose from four different separator characters — slash, pipe, bullet, or chevron — to match the visual style of your store.

Typography controls

Pick from your theme's four font families — Heading, Body, Caption, or Menu — and set a custom font size within the available range for each family. This lets you match breadcrumbs to the surrounding content styling.

Current page controls

Decide whether the page the visitor is on appears at the end of the trail. When shown, you can choose to display it as plain text or as a clickable link — giving you full control over the navigation experience.

Responsive spacing

The top and bottom padding you set for desktop is automatically scaled down to 75% on mobile screens. This keeps the breadcrumbs well-proportioned across all device sizes without needing separate mobile settings.


Frequently Asked Questions

Breadcrumbs rely on the page hierarchy in your store. If you're viewing the homepage or a page that doesn't have a parent (like a standalone custom page), the trail may not have enough levels to display. Make sure you've added the Breadcrumbs block to a page that sits within a hierarchy, such as a product page inside a collection or a blog post inside a blog. Also confirm that the block is actually added to the correct section in the Theme Editor.
The breadcrumb text is pulled automatically from your page titles, collection names, and blog titles in Shopify. To change the text that appears in the trail, update the title of the relevant page, collection, or blog in your Shopify admin. The breadcrumbs will reflect those changes automatically.
By default, the current page name at the end of the trail is displayed as plain, non-clickable text. Turning on Link current page makes it a clickable link instead. This can be useful if you want the breadcrumbs to function more like a full navigation bar. Note that this setting only appears when Show current page is also turned on.
Each text style (Heading, Body, Caption, Menu) has its own font size range to match the typical use case for that font family. For example, Caption starts at 8px for smaller, understated text, while Heading starts at 12px to account for the bolder weight of heading fonts. The font size slider updates automatically when you switch text styles.
Breadcrumbs are added as a block within a section, so they need to be placed on each page template where you want them to appear. However, since Shopify templates are shared across pages of the same type, adding breadcrumbs to your product template will automatically apply them to all product pages. The same applies for collection templates, blog templates, and so on.