Skip to main content

Components

Over a dozen reusable components built to provide buttons, dropdowns, input groups, navigation, alerts, and much more.

Navbar

The navbar is a simple wrapper for positioning branding, navigation, and other elements into a concise navigation header. It’s easily extensible and, with the help of our collapse plugin, it can easily integrate offscreen content.

Contents

Basics

Here’s what you need to know before getting started with the navbar:

  • Navbars require a wrapping .navbar and a color scheme.
  • Navbars and their contents are fluid by default. Use optional containers to limit their horizontal width.
  • Use .pull-*-left and .pull-*-right to quickly align sub-components.
  • Ensure accessibility by using a <nav> element or, if using a more generic element such as a <div>, add a role="navigation" to every navbar to explicitly identify it as a landmark region for users of assistive technologies.

Supported content

Navbars come with built-in support for a handful of sub-components. Mix and match from the following as you need:

  • .navbar-brand for your company, product, or project name
  • .navbar-nav for a full-height and lightweight navigation (including support for dropdowns)
  • .navbar-toggler for use with our collapse plugin and other navigation toggling behaviors.

Here’s an example of all the sub-components included in a default, light navbar:

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
  <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
    <li class="nav-item active">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">About</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <form class="form-inline pull-xs-right">
    <input class="form-control" type="text" placeholder="Search">
    <button class="btn btn-outline-success" type="submit">Search</button>
  </form>
</nav>

Brand

The .navbar-brand can be applied to most elements, but an anchor works best.

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
</nav>

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <h1 class="navbar-brand">Navbar</h1>
</nav>

Navbar navigation is similar to our regular nav options—use the .nav base class with a modifier to achieve a particular look. In this case you’ll want .nav.navbar-nav.

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
    <li class="nav-item active">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#">About</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>

And because we use classes for our navs, you can avoid the list-based approach entirely if you like.

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <div class="nav navbar-nav">
    <a class="nav-item nav-link active" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
    <a class="nav-item nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
    <a class="nav-item nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
    <a class="nav-item nav-link" href="#">About</a>
  </div>
</nav>

Color schemes

Theming the navbar has never been easier thanks to the combination of a simple link color modifier class and background-color utilities. Put another way, you specify light or dark and apply a background color.

Here are some examples to show what we mean.

<nav class="navbar navbar-dark bg-inverse">
  <!-- Navbar content -->
</nav>

<nav class="navbar navbar-dark bg-primary">
  <!-- Navbar content -->
</nav>

<nav class="navbar navbar-light" style="background-color: #e3f2fd;">
  <!-- Navbar content -->
</nav>

Containers

Although it’s not required, you can wrap a navbar in a .container to center it on a page or add one within to only center the contents of a fixed or static top navbar.

<div class="container">
  <nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
  </nav>
</div>
<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <div class="container">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
  </div>
</nav>

Placement

Navbars can be statically placed (their default behavior), static without rounded corners, or fixed to the top or bottom of the viewport.

<nav class="navbar navbar-full navbar-light bg-faded">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Full width</a>
</nav>
<nav class="navbar navbar-fixed-top navbar-light bg-faded">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Fixed top</a>
</nav>
<nav class="navbar navbar-fixed-bottom navbar-light bg-faded">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Fixed bottom</a>
</nav>

Collapsible content

Our collapse plugin allows you to use a <button> or <a> to toggle hidden content.

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#exCollapsingNavbar" aria-controls="exCollapsingNavbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
    &#9776;
  </button>
  <div class="collapse" id="exCollapsingNavbar">
    <div class="bg-inverse p-a-1">
      <h4>Collapsed content</h4>
      <span class="text-muted">Toggleable via the navbar brand.</span>
    </div>
  </div>
</nav>

For more complex navbar patterns, like those used in Bootstrap v3, use the .navbar-toggleable-* classes in conjunction with the .navbar-toggler. These classes override our responsive utilities to show navigation only when content is meant to be shown.

<nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-faded">
  <button class="navbar-toggler hidden-sm-up" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#exCollapsingNavbar2" aria-controls="exCollapsingNavbar2" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
    &#9776;
  </button>
  <div class="collapse navbar-toggleable-xs" id="exCollapsingNavbar2">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Responsive navbar</a>
    <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
      <li class="nav-item active">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">About</a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</nav>