In WordPress, the header is the section found at the top of your website. It usually contains the website logo and main navigation, and may also contain social media links, opening times, account options, and search functionality.
Because your website header appears at the top of every post and page, it gives your visitors their first impression of your site. Most website owners customize it to match their brand and help visitors better navigate their content.
What Is a Header in WordPress?
Most WordPress websites use a familiar layout that includes a header, content area, and footer. They may also include a sidebar next to the content area.
Since the header is the first thing your visitors will see, you’ll want it to be attractive and functional, and match your branding, to make a good first impression on your users.
Headers often display the website logo and title, navigation menus, and other important elements that you want users to see first.
For example, here is the header from the WPBeginner website. It’s designed to help our users discover our best content and find what they’re looking for quickly.
The header is usually controlled by a single file in a WordPress theme, header.php. A change made to that template will be applied across the entire website. If the header contains a menu, then it is usually controlled by WordPress’ custom menu functionality.
The header template may also contain a number of other important elements of your website, such as links to stylesheets, website metadata, and icons for browsers and mobile devices.
These items are not visible within your header, but are inside the <head></head> tags of your code, and will be interpreted by the browser that visits your website.
What Is a Custom Header in WordPress?
A custom header is a WordPress theme feature that allows you to customize the header and header image of your website.
You can customize your header by changing the color scheme, tweaking the layout, or changing font sizes. You could even add images, a widget area, or use different headers for separate areas of your website.
Some WordPress themes let you add a full-width image to the header with a tagline or a call-to-action button. You may be able to change the position of the logo, navigation menus, and header image.
You can also make header customizations not supported by your theme by using plugins or code snippets. To learn more, see our guide on how to customize your WordPress header.
We hope this article helped you learn more about headers in WordPress. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.
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