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No.170 · Navbars

Masthead Nav

An editorial masthead that condenses as you scroll — the big name shrinks and travels into the logo slot, the frame gathers into a floating pill, and nothing ever snaps.

The prompt

Written for the variant you picked above: Frost

Build a navbar that starts life as an editorial masthead and condenses, continuously, into a floating pill as the page scrolls. Drive everything from one variable --p = clamp(scrollY / 110px) (window or a passed scroll container, rAF-throttled), plus two derived phases in CSS: --q (meta leaves early, p×2.4) and --r (CTA arrives late). The header is sticky and only as tall as the compact bar; the masthead hangs below it over the page's top padding, so the layout never jumps. Its frame interpolates: width from 100% to min(44rem, 100% − 1.5rem) (centred), height from 11rem to 3.5rem, radius 0 → 1.75rem, a glass background alpha 0 → 0.72 with backdrop blur 0 → 14px, a hairline ring and shadow fading in, and a bottom rule that fades out. Inside: a mono meta row (location/role left, a green 'Available for new work' dot right) fades and lifts away; the name, set in Instrument Serif at clamp(3rem, 8.5cqi, 5.25rem), scales from its bottom-left toward exactly 19px (the scale is measured from its computed font size) while travelling from the masthead's bottom-left into the bar's vertical centre; the links move from the bottom-right to the bar's centre line, tightening their gap; a bone 'Contact' pill scales in at the right in the late phase and becomes interactive only once compact. Links have a drawn underline for hover and aria-current. Below a 40rem container width, links and CTA fold into a 'Menu' button (two-line burger that crosses) which opens a sheet out of the bar: clip-path + scale from the top-right, with large serif links numbered in mono, staggered 45ms. Escape closes it. Selected variant — Frost: accent="#b9cce4" (frost blue) for link underlines and focus; name "Hamza Al-Bulushi".

Notes

Interaction
Scroll: the masthead condenses into a pill and unfolds again on the way back up. On small containers a Menu button opens a sheet; Escape closes it.
Motion
Scroll-linked (no timers): every property is a calc() of --p. Menu sheet 460ms clip-path reveal with 45ms item stagger.
Accessibility
A <header> with a labelled <nav> and aria-current; the wordmark is a home link; the CTA is hidden from pointer and tab order until the bar is compact; the menu button has aria-expanded/aria-controls. Reduced motion keeps the scroll-linked layout (it's positional, not animated) and removes the sheet animation.
Responsive
Container queries (not viewport) switch to the menu below 40rem, and the wordmark size uses cqi units, so it adapts wherever it's placed.
On touch
Scroll-linked on touch exactly as on desktop; the menu sheet uses large tap targets.

Featured

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151Prompt ComposerA chat composer where attached files tuck into its top edge like tabs in a folder — they rise from behind it when added and sink back when removed. Send turns into stop while the reply streams.157Aura FieldA writing field where colour only exists while the AI is touching your text: the edge becomes a turning band of light and the words are rewritten in place, one by one, out of a soft blur.
205Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
212Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.222Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
275Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
279Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
301 components