Willow Scroll

Most sites need more than one header. The front page starts with a full-width image and wants a transparent header over it. A shop wants a dark header on products. The blog is fine as it is. Willow Scroll lets you set that once, per template, per category or per page, instead of writing CSS for every case.

How it differs from other header plugins

• A rule per template, following the WordPress template hierarchy: any post type, an archive, a taxonomy, the front page, search, 404, or a custom template of your theme. A rule for “Products: single” works even when the theme has no separate template for products.
• A rule per category or tag that can cover the posts in it, not only its archive. When a post is in several categories, the rule higher in the list wins, and the order is yours to set.
• Every page and post can override all of it in the editor, and each field shows the value it inherits and where it comes from.
• A separate logo for each look of the header: regular, transparent and sticky, each falling back to the site logo.
• Shrinking to a height you choose, measured on your own site, so it also works with themes that size header rows with min-height.
• Works the same in block themes and classic themes: the header is found on your site once and remembered.

Header type

• Regular or transparent. A transparent header lies over the first section, for pages that start with a large image, and is fully see-through until the visitor scrolls.
• Sticky or not. A sticky header can stay on screen, slide away while scrolling down and return on the way up, or slide away and return near the top of the page.

Look of the header

• Background for the regular header and for the sticky header: a color or a gradient, taken from your theme’s palette, with transparency and a direction for gradients.
• Blur behind a semi-transparent sticky header, a shadow with its own color, offset and softness, and a hairline at the bottom.
• Floating sticky header: its own distance from the sides and from the top, with rounded corners set together or one by one.
• Shrink: set the height of the sticky header in pixels. The header’s rows are measured on your site, so themes that size rows with min-height shrink as well, not only themes that use padding.
• A logo for each look of the header: regular, transparent and sticky. Each falls back to your site logo, and the logo can change size between the top and the sticky state.
• Presets for the sticky look: Glass, Solid, Minimal, Always on top, Floating, Dark glass and Compact, in the colors of your theme.
• Motion: duration and easing, turned off automatically for visitors who prefer reduced motion.

Where a setting applies

• Site settings for the whole site.
• Rules per template: the front page, the blog, pages, single entries of any post type, archives of a post type, search, 404, and the custom templates of your theme.
• Rules per category, tag or taxonomy term. A rule covers the archive page, and the posts in that term when you turn that on. When a post is in several terms, the rule higher in the list wins, and rules are reordered with the arrows.
• Settings per page or post, in the block editor sidebar and in the Classic Editor meta box. Each field shows the value it inherits and where it comes from, and returns to it with one click.
• Order of priority: the page, then the matching rule, then the site settings.

Small screens and fine-tuning

• Below a breakpoint you choose, the header can be left exactly as the theme has it.
• Scroll thresholds, the stacking order and the selectors of the header and of the element that paints its background can be set by hand when the automatic result is not what you want.

Extras, each working on its own

• Reading progress bar: color, height, top or bottom.
• Scroll-to-top button: six arrow icons, colors, hover effect and hover colors, size, padding, corner radius, side and distance from the edges.
• Custom scrollbar: width, track and thumb colors, roundness and border, with the system scrollbar kept on small screens.

Good to know

• No external services, no libraries, nothing loaded from other servers. The styles are printed inline and the script is a single small file.
• The hidden header returns when a visitor reaches it with the keyboard.
• Everything the plugin stores is removed when you delete it.