Author-/Titlename in header
Write in latex preamble:

\let\oldAuthor\author
\renewcommand{\author}[1]{\newcommand{\myAuthor}{#1}\oldAuthor{#1}} 
\let\oldTitle\title
\renewcommand{\title}[1]{\newcommand{\myTitle}{#1}\oldTitle{#1}} 
%
% for example title on the left and author on the right (with package fanyhdr)
%
\lhead{\myTitle}
\rhead{\myAuthor}

plain style for fancyhdr
For chapters latex always uses the \thispagestyle{plain} command to switch from the actual headerstyle to plain. This can be modified by fancyhdr. For example write in latex preamble:

\fancypagestyle{plain}{%
  \fancyhf{}
  \fancyfoot[C]{\bfseries \thepage}
  \renewcommand\headrulewidth{0pt}
  \renewcommand\footrulewidth{0pt}
}

Short Headers
just under your chapter write in tex(red)

\chaptermark{My short Title} 

\sectionmark{myTitle}

Footer and header with fyncyhdr
Package fancyhdr gives the possibility to define own header and/or footer.
First some definitions:
even (left) pages:

LE	CE	RE
Text (even page)
LE	CE	RE

LO	CO	RO
Text (odd page)
LO	CO	RO

\fancyhead[LE,...]{ the headertext }	\fancyfoot[LE,...]{ the footertext }
\fancyhead[CE,...]{ the headertext }	\fancyfoot[CE,...]{ the footertext }
\fancyhead[RE,...]{ the headertext }	\fancyfoot[RE,...]{ the footertext }

\fancyplain{plain_value}{normal_value}

A header- and a footline are the defaults. No lines are given by the width 0pt.
Example:

\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}

\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}

\renewcommand{\plainheadrulewidth}{0pt}

\renewcommand{\plainfootrulewidth}{0pt}

\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{% twoside and 
  \markboth{%
    \ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
    \hfill\thechapter\quad \if @mainmatter
        \@chapapp\ \thechapter\quad
      \fi
    \fi
     #1%
  }{%
    \ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
      \if @mainmatter
        \@chapapp\ \thechapter\quad
      \fi
    \fi
    #1%
  }%
}%
\renewcommand\sectionmark[1]{\markright{\thesection\ #1}}
\renewcommand\headrulewidth{0pt}
\renewcommand\footrulewidth{0pt}
% positioning
\usepackage{color}
\definecolor{myColor}{rgb}{0.9,0.9,0.9}
\fancyhead{}% delte the defaults
\fancyhead[RE,LO]{\bf\large\thepage} % right-even and left-odd
\fancyhead[LE]{\colorbox{myColor}{\parbox{0.9\columnwidth}{\leftmark}}} % even pages!
\fancyhead[RO]{\colorbox{myColor}{\parbox{0.9\columnwidth}{\rightmark}}} % odd pages!
\fancyfoot{} % clear