The sole reason is branding. Websites don't want you just reading content; they want you reading content on their site. The most obvious way to remind you that you're reading it on their site, and thus convince you to come back, is a fixed header bar.
And the more branding a site uses, the faster I reach for the "Read Now" Readability bookmark.
I realize I'm likely a very small portion of the demographic, by my prior two decades' experience with Web Annoyances tells me that my own sentiments aren't much different from those of the typical Web user, it's just that I'm aware of, and make use of, tools to fix many of the problems.
I suppose part of what lead to this was browser vendors pretty much eliminating the traditional title bar (by the time you have a dozen tabs open there's room for maybe 7 letters and a 16x16 icon per tab), so websites have had to start supplementing with their own title bars to help users figure out what site they're on.
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The sole reason is branding. Websites don't want you just reading content; they want you reading content on their site. The most obvious way to remind you that you're reading it on their site, and thus convince you to come back, is a fixed header bar.
Funny thing that they make a site that looks exactly the same as every other site, and then they discover that they have a branding problem.
I never have any problem remembering that I'm readding HN.
Branding problem, or a content problem?
And the more branding a site uses, the faster I reach for the "Read Now" Readability bookmark.
I realize I'm likely a very small portion of the demographic, by my prior two decades' experience with Web Annoyances tells me that my own sentiments aren't much different from those of the typical Web user, it's just that I'm aware of, and make use of, tools to fix many of the problems.
I suppose part of what lead to this was browser vendors pretty much eliminating the traditional title bar (by the time you have a dozen tabs open there's room for maybe 7 letters and a 16x16 icon per tab), so websites have had to start supplementing with their own title bars to help users figure out what site they're on.