Dynamic access path while following links in pages

[Bert Geenen]

I am looking for a technique that would display the access path that
has been followed to reach a certain page while surfing a site.

E.g. suppose the have the following structure

Homepage
- Topic 1
- Item a
- Item b (has a link to addendum A)
- Topic 2
- Item c
- Item d
- Item e (has a link to the same addendum A)

When displaying "Item a", I want to add this line at the top of the
page:

Homepage - Topic A - Item a
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

(^^^^ means there is a link to this page).

When browsing Addendum A, coming from "Item b" it should show

Homepage - Topic 1 - Item b - Addendum A
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^

When reaching Addendum A via "Item e", that same Addendum A
should show

Homepage - Topic 2 - Item e - Addendum A
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^

Obviously, this chain of links is not fixed for "Addendum A" and thus
I would guess that a JavaScript could use document.write to build this
information (using cookies that keep track of the path?).

I was wondering which technique I should use to build this chain of
followed links. I'm sure that I am not the first one that tries to
accomplish this.
A links to a webpage that describes a suitable technique would be
great.

Many thanks in advance,

Bert Geenen - Belgium