A header is the persistent top band that orients someone the moment a page loads. Its job is orientation first: brand, wayfinding, and a next step. Everything else is optional pressure. Across this collection, most headers still run a familiar left-to-right grammar: mark, primary links, then utilities or a button. The interesting variation sits in how much they absorb. Retail bars add search, account, and cart. Product sites pair a quiet Sign In with a louder demo request. Editorial and studio sites often float a thin strip over photography, or collapse the map into Menu. Some headers stay one row. Others stack a promo or announcement above the nav, which buys campaign space at the cost of first-screen height. A few treat the bar as an object: a centered capsule, a dark slab, a translucent film. The useful question is not which look is current. It is whether the header still reads as a system after the hero, the announcement, and the primary action all compete for the same strip.