Navbar

Navbars are responsive meta components that serve as navigation headers for your application or site. They begin collapsed (and are toggleable) in mobile views and become horizontal as the available viewport width increases.

Justified navbar nav links are currently not supported.

Overflowing content

Since Bootstrap doesn't know how much space the content in your navbar needs, you might run into issues with content wrapping into a second row. To resolve this, you can:

  1. Reduce the amount or width of navbar items.
  2. Hide certain navbar items at certain screen sizes using responsive utility classes.
  3. Change the point at which your navbar switches between collapsed and horizontal mode. Customize the @grid-float-breakpoint variable or add your own media query.

Requires JavaScript plugin

If JavaScript is disabled and the viewport is narrow enough that the navbar collapses, it will be impossible to expand the navbar and view the content within the .navbar-collapse.

The responsive navbar requires the collapse plugin to be included in your version of Bootstrap.

Changing the collapsed mobile navbar breakpoint

The navbar collapses into its vertical mobile view when the viewport is narrower than @grid-float-breakpoint, and expands into its horizontal non-mobile view when the viewport is at least @grid-float-breakpoint in width. Adjust this variable in the Less source to control when the navbar collapses/expands. The default value is 768px (the smallest "small" or "tablet" screen).

Make navbars accessible

Be sure to use 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.


<nav class="navbar navbar-default">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <!-- Brand and toggle get grouped for better mobile display -->
    <div class="navbar-header">
      <button class="navbar-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#bs-example-navbar-collapse-1" type="button" aria-expanded="false">
        <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
      </button>
      <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Brand</a>
    </div>

    <!-- Collect the nav links, forms, and other content for toggling -->
    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="bs-example-navbar-collapse-1">
      <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
        <li class="active"><a href="#">Link <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
        <li class="dropdown">
          <a class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Dropdown <span class="caret"></span></a>
          <ul class="dropdown-menu">
            <li><a href="#">Action</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Another action</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Something else here</a></li>
            <li class="divider" role="separator"></li>
            <li><a href="#">Separated link</a></li>
            <li class="divider" role="separator"></li>
            <li><a href="#">One more separated link</a></li>
          </ul>
        </li>
      </ul>
      <form class="navbar-form navbar-left" role="search">
        <div class="form-group">
          <input class="form-control" type="text" placeholder="Search">
        </div>
        <button class="btn btn-default" type="submit">Submit</button>
      </form>
      <ul class="nav navbar-nav navbar-right">
        <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
        <li class="dropdown">
          <a class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Dropdown <span class="caret"></span></a>
          <ul class="dropdown-menu">
            <li><a href="#">Action</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Another action</a></li>
            <li><a href="#">Something else here</a></li>
            <li class="divider" role="separator"></li>
            <li><a href="#">Separated link</a></li>
          </ul>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </div><!-- /.navbar-collapse -->
  </div><!-- /.container-fluid -->
</nav>

Replace the navbar brand with your own image by swapping the text for an <img>. Since the .navbar-brand has its own padding and height, you may need to override some CSS depending on your image.


<nav class="navbar navbar-default">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <div class="navbar-header">
      <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
        <img alt="Brand" src="...">
      </a>
    </div>
  </div>
</nav>

Place form content within .navbar-form for proper vertical alignment and collapsed behavior in narrow viewports. Use the alignment options to decide where it resides within the navbar content.

As a heads up, .navbar-form shares much of its code with .form-inline via mixin. Some form controls, like input groups, may require fixed widths to be show up properly within a navbar.


<form class="navbar-form navbar-left" role="search">
  <div class="form-group">
    <input class="form-control" type="text" placeholder="Search">
  </div>
  <button class="btn btn-default" type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

Mobile device caveats

There are some caveats regarding using form controls within fixed elements on mobile devices. See our browser support docs for details.

Always add labels

Screen readers will have trouble with your forms if you don't include a label for every input. For these inline forms, you can hide the labels using the .sr-only class. There are further alternative methods of providing a label for assistive technologies, such as the aria-label, aria-labelledby or title attribute. If none of these is present, screen readers may resort to using the placeholder attribute, if present, but note that use of placeholder as a replacement for other labelling methods is not advised.

Add the .navbar-btn class to <button> elements not residing in a <form> to vertically center them in the navbar.


<button class="btn btn-default navbar-btn" type="button">Sign in</button>

Context-specific usage

Like the standard button classes, .navbar-btn can be used on <a> and <input> elements. However, neither .navbar-btn nor the standard button classes should be used on <a> elements within .navbar-nav.

Text

Wrap strings of text in an element with .navbar-text, usually on a <p> tag for proper leading and color.


<p class="navbar-text">Signed in as Mark Otto</p>

For folks using standard links that are not within the regular navbar navigation component, use the .navbar-link class to add the proper colors for the default and inverse navbar options.


<p class="navbar-text navbar-right">Signed in as <a class="navbar-link" href="#">Mark Otto</a></p>

Align nav links, forms, buttons, or text, using the .navbar-left or .navbar-right utility classes. Both classes will add a CSS float in the specified direction. For example, to align nav links, put them in a separate <ul> with the respective utility class applied.

These classes are mixin-ed versions of .pull-left and .pull-right, but they're scoped to media queries for easier handling of navbar components across device sizes.

Right aligning multiple components

Navbars currently have a limitation with multiple .navbar-right classes. To properly space content, we use negative margin on the last .navbar-right element. When there are multiple elements using that class, these margins don't work as intended.

We'll revisit this when we can rewrite that component in v4.

Add .navbar-fixed-top and include a .container or .container-fluid to center and pad navbar content.


<nav class="navbar navbar-default navbar-fixed-top">
  <div class="container">
    ...
  </div>
</nav>

Body padding required

The fixed navbar will overlay your other content, unless you add padding to the top of the <body>. Try out your own values or use our snippet below. Tip: By default, the navbar is 50px high.


body { padding-top: 70px; }

Make sure to include this after the core Bootstrap CSS.

Add .navbar-fixed-bottom and include a .container or .container-fluid to center and pad navbar content.


<nav class="navbar navbar-default navbar-fixed-bottom">
  <div class="container">
    ...
  </div>
</nav>

Body padding required

The fixed navbar will overlay your other content, unless you add padding to the bottom of the <body>. Try out your own values or use our snippet below. Tip: By default, the navbar is 50px high.


body { padding-bottom: 70px; }

Make sure to include this after the core Bootstrap CSS.

Create a full-width navbar that scrolls away with the page by adding .navbar-static-top and include a .container or .container-fluid to center and pad navbar content.

Unlike the .navbar-fixed-* classes, you do not need to change any padding on the body.


<nav class="navbar navbar-default navbar-static-top">
  <div class="container">
    ...
  </div>
</nav>

Modify the look of the navbar by adding .navbar-inverse.


<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse">
  ...
</nav>