This may vary based on your site hierarchy and IA but when configuring breadcrumbs should they include home or stop the first filter (categories, for example).
Which is better? I have seen both used on popular sites and don't see how either is a perfect "win-win scenario."
I believe that unless you have a compelling reason (I haven't yet come across one) not to include "Home" in your chain, that you should just leave it in. It's a small unobtrusive affordance which allows users who have already been navigating mainly with your breadcrumbs to continue to do so back to home. They needn't go any further (like up to your logo or another home button placed elsewhere).
They've been around for a while and most of the recommendations I've read on them still say to have a "Home" item as part of convention (see Nielsen's Breadcrumb Navigation Increasingly Useful and the section labeled Consistency Breeds Familiarity).
Some additional references:
**
The origin of Breadcrumbs was simply to track back to Home .
** The user needs to see the starting point which is the "Home" and the current page on the Breadcrumbs that helps to visualize the path easily and navigate much more effectively. Hence Home should be included.
