Inspiration: 35 Wonderful Website Headers

Inspiration: 35 Wonderful Website Headers

Website headers are a very important aspect of any web design, whether the website is a blog, a portfolio, an informational site or even an online store. It is, along with the logo, one of the first things a new user will see when visiting your website. Your website, just like a human-being, should have a personality; the best way to “present” your website’s personality is via the header design. This allows the visitor to quickly determine not only the quality of the site, but if the content is something they think they will enjoy.

This post showcases 35 awesome header designs to help inspire you for your next web design project. All of the showcased headers capture the attention of their target audience incredibly well, therefore keeping them on the website for a longer period of time. And let us know what your favorite header is in the comments!

Section 1. Illustrated Headers

Praline En Schachtel

As soon as this wonderful header has loaded we’re welcomed to a happy and cheerful environment with a great personal touch. The friendly feel of the header counteracts the fact that the navigation doesn’t seem to exist at all.

BAD Health

Meomi

Once again we are presented with a cheerful environment with the ‘Meomi’ header design. The illustration is, in fact, animated using Flash, so be sure to take a quick look at the live website. Although the design is quite busy, it is easy to adjust to, making it easy to find our way around the site without any problems. The use of a tag line below the navigation menu makes it clear to new visitors what the website is and who it is aimed at – just incase you hadn’t already gathered from the beautiful Flash illustrations.

Blog What? Design

Et Toque!

Et Toque! also uses a Flash animated illustrated header. They incorporate cute character design with bright, eye-catching colors and a superb composition. The navigation is located at the bottom of the page which, in a way, is quite unusual; Et Toque! however have managed to pull it off very well.

Bienenstich Band

Matt Hamm

Matt Hamm’s portfolio website has followed a reasonably recent and modern trend by letting his new visitors know what he does in big, bold lettering. To emphasize the word ‘Hello.’ a dark blue color has been used – this makes the personality of the website friendly and very personal. The use of a shadow directed onto the navigation menu at the top of the page makes it stand out more than it already does – it’s almost impossible not to click on the links. To top it all off, a comical illustration of Matt himself holding a Twitter bird icon has been used, telling the public he has a Twitter profile.

Tropikalny Ogrod

Section 2. Hand-Drawn Elements & Textured Headers

XHTML CSS Expert

Cochemer Stadtsoldaten

This header makes great use of stock images, textures, and shadows, all to produce a memorable compilation. The use of a large website logo only makes the website even more memorable, and the tag line beneath it makes it easy for new visitors to find what the website is about. The navigation is incredibly simple to use, with contact links, etc. being shown at the top of the header, and content navigation links being used beneath.

Sprocket House

Studio Racket

The use of grungy texture and hand-drawn elements in this header design makes the site feel very personal and inviting. The navigation is also hand-drawn, and is rather unusual using a layout similar to that of a spider diagram; although not a common technique, it is very easy to navigate around the website without too much thought and effort.

Belzebu de Saia

Odosketch

All For Design

After first loading this highly textured web design we are almost immediately hit with a burst of bright (and attractive) green. A slightly lighter and subtle green is used behind the parrot to take our eyes into the navigation menu, which has been placed above the majority of the textured background, for easier viewing. A large logo with an embedded tag line is used, which has also been placed above the majority of the textured background, making it easier to remember as an independent logo rather than part of the web design.

Brunosouza

JOBY

The Joby header uses a combination of large (and bold) small letters, small caps, and Sans Serif fonts to attract the visitors attention and let them know what the site is all about in a very memorable and exciting way. The use of a hand-drawn/painted illustration adds a great personal touch to the design.

Jay Hafling

Barclay Farms Estate

Section 3. Typography Headers

Projeto Trinta

This is quite possibly one of the most beautiful and energetic header designs in this compilation. The use of subtle gray colors and a strong, lime green with a combination of torn holes and light grunge textures make this an absolute pleasure to look at. As well as looking great, the navigation is super easy to use with a stylish white highlight effect when hovering over the links. The sponsor icons are also linked, making use of the empty space in a superb way for some advertising campaigns.

Diamond HTML

David Jonsson

North Temple

This minimalistic but great typography-based header design has it all. The large, colorful and photo-based typography header is eye-catching and is very easy to remember. After you’ve stopped staring at the lovely color scheme in the logo, you’ll probably read the tag line, explaining what the site is about, and whether or not it is something you want to carry on reading. If it is, you’re presented with some very simple but appealing text links to find your way around the site.

Trent Walton

The Urban Landscape Lab

Teleios Man

TUT Candy

TUT Candy was very close to being put in the next category, ‘Atmospheric and Bokeh Headers’, due to its starry and spacey background. It is, however, based around three-dimensional typography, securing it a place in this category. After admiring the gorgeous text effects and reading the attention-grabbing tag line, the links and search bar are very easy to locate and use at the very top of the header.

Section 4. Atmospheric and Bokeh Headers

Rareview

Rareview use subtle (but incredible) animated Flash in their header, so make sure you head on over to check out the live version – you will not be disappointed. The atmosphere the animation creates, especially if viewed on a large glossy monitor, makes you feel like you’re in a different world; it really is that powerful. The minimalistic black and white logo and navigation links make them very easy to locate and use, and make use of some great hover effects (again, see the live version).

Lisa Maya

72 Thinking:Outlets

Mycreativework

Section 5. Minimalistic & Simple Headers

CTL – The Business of Learning

The Croquis

This is easily the most elegant header in this showcase. The use of watercolor textures and the minimal use of color adds a very personal touch to the design. The thin black line at the top of the header helps release the potential of the fine logo and navigation typography.

Cloud King

XEDA Design

After looking over these fantastic examples of well designed headers, you should feel refreshed and ready to take on your next web design project, or even redesign your existing header – after all, sometimes only small tweaks are needed to release your design to its absolute full potential.



Cms Software

Cms Software
Hi,

I am looking for a multisite CMS package.

Basically I would like a site where all clients go to www.mydomain.co.uk/sitecms to access the account.

At that point they log in and see a list of their own pages and extras, such as catalogues etc…

They click on “home page” and simply edit it in a WYSIWYG editor, then save.

Must be MySQL driven / PHP code.

I need to be able to control the user and select if they can create new pages or not… And allow extra functions such as catalgues etc…

Bug Fixes For Websites

Bug Fixes For Websites
I have a number of simple code fixes in my existing websites. Should be rather quick & easy for anyone with knowledge of PHP/MySQL to do.

Firstly, I have a website that allows people to review TV shows on Twitter. This relies on the website pulling feeds from theTVdb.com to gather the data on TV shows. Currently, no data on TV episodes is being generated, most likely to do with a simple coding error. It needs fixing so it automatically populates the database with episode information every hour. In addition, a simple bit of coding is required in order for a ‘Latest Episode’ box on each show to display the latest episode of a show that has been shown, based on the first aired date in the episode data.

Secondly, I have a Joomla based website with Gavick PhotoSlide 2 and NewsImage 6 (a carousel thing for featured content). I need a simple edit to the code (PHP & Javascript used here) so that the large image of the content links to the content rather than the text below.

These are simple code fixes and will not take long. I am looking for a reliable and affordable developer to work with in developing the Twitter/TV site further in future projects so there will be plenty more work available to the selected programmer.

Secure Price Sheet Pages

Secure Price Sheet Pages
I am a graphic designer in need of a coding partner on a web site for a wine distributor. The portion I need help with is connecting some CSV files with Dreamweaver pages to make a secure online Price Sheet. I also need a little javascript help, and some pointers on making sure the CSS gets applied to the data coming in from the CSV files. I am estimating the job will take about 10 – 15 hours over a two week period.

Wp Plugin Coding

Wp Plugin Coding
I currently use Openx to serve all my ads but I need to add the functionality to call all adserver tags from a plugin inside my WP admin console. Plugin would be something like AD-minister or maybe even simpler. Here’s the scenario:

Openx provides an invocation code (iframe or javascript code, though I don’t think that would matter) which is used to call for advertisers content to be placed inside the page.

The plugin I’m looking after will handle this invocation code and must be able to:
– set a refresh timer for these codes to be called (ad would be refreshed every x minutes/seconds)
– every time the ad is refreshed it has to be a new call, must not be cached or anything like that

Keep in mind that you won’t have to deal in any way with Openx, it’s just a simple url management and pass thru on my end. I’ll only use Openx to get the ad tags that will be placed on the plugin.

Plugin must be simple enough as to be compatible with current and future versions of WP, I don’t want anything fancy, just functional. In case WP has a radical code change in the future that stops this plugin from working I’d gladly pay for any fixes.

You will deliver source code as well.

Please, submit your bid if you’re experienced enough with WP as to do the job.

Css Website + Flash Banner

Css Website + Flash Banner
We are looking for a simple site in couple of days. Requirements are very simple & straight.
We have a template from Dreamtemplate #5801 which includes (HTML, PSD & FLASH Banner)

We need
– Simple CSS website upto 10-12 pages
– Site should be fit on any resolution, web 2.0 style(mid part 1024 pixels & side areas should resize according to screen size)
– Need Flash Skills to change Flash Effects on Banner & Text Animation. We will provide new text
– Site Must Be Cross Browser Friendly (IE6+, Mozilla, Chrome, Safari)
– We need dynamic Photo Gallery in it where we can add categories & photos in that
– We have to sell some tickets via this site so there is functionality required to sell ticket. It will be again simple, You have to integrate Paypal payment gateway on successful payment user can print tickets online as well he will & administrator/s of site will recevie a copy of ticket on email with user details.
-We are still working on Text part of site so there might we need some iteration which i think will be easier for any programmer.

Html Psd To WordPress Cms

Html Psd To WordPress Cms
Hi All Bidders,

I am looking for someone who can create a website in wordpress including blogs and cms based from existing HTML/PSD/CSS Files.

This is the template i am buying:
http://themeforest.net/item/93visions-4-in-1-modern-professional-html-template/full_screen_preview/83360

It has html/css/psd files, what you need to do is convert the entire site into wordpress with cms for rest of the pages.

Additional i want:

1. facility for a candidate to register and fill up a job form with the facility of uploading their resume in .DOC format.

For form reference one can refer to naukri(dot)com
NOTE: I just want a facility for a user to register/login and update a resume no employee login.

2. Candidate to login and then update their resume.

3. As myself the site Admin should have the facility to search the database, download resumes, and post hot jobs.

Its a Man Power Consultancy Site

Please bid only after checking both the sites.

happy bidding!!

Make 3 Postcards In Words Doc

Make 3 Postcards In Words Doc
I like a Graphic designer to create 3 post card for me so I can change the copy and images In words Document.

in you price include design of one banner which i let you have it is very easy.

Sample for you to see is attached.

there are many more i want doing how ever i want you to price me up for 3 for now.

Please quote “Icandoit” in your reply if not the bid will be cancelled.
I need this done with in 5 days so do not bid if you can not do it in time frame.

~Also easy communication with the designer is a must.

If no feed back or easy communication is not in your service do not bid.

I will pay 50% in to escrow after you show one design that i agree and the rest will be paid when the 3 postcards are delivered to my 100% satisfaction.

I am looking for an ongoing relationship so if you are good and sharp and can deliver you get a lot more work.

Real Estate Homepage

Real Estate Homepage
Hi, I’m looking for a clean, stylish Web 2.0 homepage mockup (IMAGE ONLY, not html) for a finance/real estate/property website using the following criteria:

Colours based on:
http://www.smartinspain.com/index.php

Design/Layout based on:
http://www.slh.com/
http://www.previewnaples.com/
http://pueblobonito.com/
http://rentalsyourway.com/
http://www.undertheromansun.com/
http://www.mckinneyhomerebate.com/

Image/Design must include:

1)Top and Side navigation menus;
2)Featured properties area
3)Advanced search form.
4)Large Main Image

It’s fine to use “lorem ipsum” for dummy text and a text-based logo.

Bids considered ONLY if you provide a (watermarked) mockup with your bid. Please don’t bid above my $25 budget.

Any questions answered immediately via PMB. Many thanks for bidding.

A 25 Pages Of Content

A 25 Pages Of Content
Looking for someone with basic photoshop skills and can write a 100-200 word unique article on cars and motorcycles.

I have a site that has individual wallpapers for cars, motorcycles and celebrities. i need new content. what i need is someone to use my layout template and do the following:

1. write a 100-200 words in three paragraphs unique text on the car, or motorcycle or celebrity.

2. make 4 unique wallpapers for the page. use filters, actions (i can provide some) to make these unique. Make a thumbnail image and a full size image. ALso need the full size image zipped. size should be 800×600 and 1024×768.

I need 25 of these pages. I will provide the list of cars, mtorcycles, and celebrities.

Please bid for whole job.

Will give sample template in PMB.
thanks

Swoopo Clone 2010

Swoopo Clone 2010
I purchased the 2010 swoopo clone transfered it to my host and done every thing in instructions but when i try to set up admin by registering says username should have letters and numbers only please help.
Also need to set up cron jobs

These are instructions
Please note: For significant performance improvements, install Zend Optimizer on your server.

Here are the instructions

1) Move the code (if it is not already) to a folder in your webroot folder. For example /var/www/swoopo2010.
If you are moving this code to a live server, copy the code into the public_html or httpdocs directory.

2) This step is only needed if the site isn’t accessable from a domain name directly. e.g. www.swoopoclone.com
You need to set up a subdomain to access the site, so that the website URL is swoopoclone.localhost
For more information visit: http://blog.ubrio.us/gnome/how-to-subdomain-localhost-ubuntu-osx

3) The next step is to create your database and dump the SQL. In the code under /app/config/sql import the
file telebid.sql into your database.

4) Now you need to create your config file. In app/config you will see a file called config.default.php.
Rename this to config.php and fill out the details so that they match yours. Turn demoMode to true for now.

5) Now you need to chmod 777 the following directories:
/app/tmp
/app/tmp/cache
/app/tmp/cache/models
/app/tmp/cache/persistant
/app/tmp/cache/views
/app/webroot/img/category_images
/app/webroot/img/category_images/max
/app/webroot/img/category_images/thumbs
/app/webroot/img/auctions_images
/app/webroot/img/auctions_images/max
/app/webroot/img/auctions_images/thumbs
/app/webroot/img/files

6) Now you need to create the following Cron Jobs. We use CURL to access the URLs, but contact me if you server doesn’t have CURL installed.
These cron jobs should be set to run every minute, of every hour, or every day. Make sure the cronTime in the config is set to 1 also.
The 4 commands you need to set up are:
curl -s -o /dev/null http://www.domain.com/daemons/bidbutler
curl -s -o /dev/null http://www.domain.com/daemons/extend
curl -s -o /dev/null http://www.domain.com/daemons/autobid
curl -s -o /dev/null http://www.domain.com/daemons/close

If you are running the site on your local host, you can test these things by simply running the daemons directly on another browser
and set the cronTime to say 10 to keep it running.

7) You should now be able to access the website. Register on the website, and your account will be set to admin.
Once you have done this, turn turn the demoMode back to false.

Thats it! Enjoy the code!

Prayer Room For Phpfox V2 Site

Prayer Room For Phpfox V2 Site
Hi,

I run a Christian community website which is powered by phpfox v2. I require a prayer room plugin to be made, which is very similar to one on tangle.com found here http://www.tangle.com/prayers.

The look does not need to be the same but i would like it to have the following features which appear on the tangle.com prayer room:

On the prayer room homepage, there is a submit form.
The latest prayers are shown along with most viewed and most commented.

I am currently using the built in bulletin board which comes with phpfoxv2 and i think this could be duplicated and adjusted to work the way the prayer room on tanlge.com works.

My website is a non-profit website, so our budget is not big and i am also out of work. If the job is done to a high standard and i am happy, the there will be future work as well.

Thanks

Steve

my site is www.ourlordsfriends.com