Navigation Bars

Home / Styles / Navigation Bars

Basic navbar

To start, navbars are static (not fixed to the top) and include support for a project name and basic navigation. Place one anywhere within a .container, which sets the width of your site and content.

<div class="navbar">
  <div class="navbar-inner">
    <a class="brand" href="#">Title</a>
    <ul class="nav">
      <li class="active"><a href="#">Home</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
      <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Navbar components

Brand

A simple link to show your brand or project name only requires an anchor tag.

<a class="brand" href="#">Project name</a>

Nav links

Nav items are simple to add via unordered lists.

<ul class="nav">
  <li class="active">
    <a href="#">Home</a>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
</ul>

You can easily add dividers to your nav links with an empty list item and a simple class. Just add this between links:

<ul class="nav">
  ...
  <li class="divider-vertical"></li>
  ...
</ul>

Forms

To properly style and position a form within the navbar, add the appropriate classes as shown below. For a default form, include .navbar-form and either .pull-left or .pull-right to properly align it.

<form class="navbar-form pull-left">
  <input type="text" class="span2">
  <button type="submit" class="btn">Submit</button>
</form>

Search form

For a more customized search form, add .navbar-search to the form and .search-query to the input for specialized styles in the navbar.

<form class="navbar-search pull-left">
  <input type="text" class="search-query" placeholder="Search">
</form>

Component alignment

Align nav links, search form, or text, use the .pull-left or .pull-right utility classes. Both classes will add a CSS float in the specified direction.

Using dropdowns

Add dropdowns and dropups to the nav with a bit of markup and the dropdowns JavaScript plugin.

<ul class="nav">
  <li class="dropdown">
    <a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">
      Account
      <b class="caret"></b>
    </a>
    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
      ...
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

Visit the JavaScript dropdowns documentation for more markup and information on calling dropdowns.

Text

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

Optional display variations

Fix the navbar to the top or bottom of the viewport with an additional class on the outermost div, .navbar.

Fixed to top

Add .navbar-fixed-top and remember to account for the hidden area underneath it by adding at least 40px padding to the <body>. Be sure to add this after the core Bootstrap CSS and before the optional responsive CSS.

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

Fixed to bottom

Add .navbar-fixed-bottom instead.

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

Static top navbar

Create a full-width navbar that scrolls away with the page by adding .navbar-static-top. Unlike the .navbar-fixed-top class, you do not need to change any padding on the body.

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

Responsive navbar

To implement a collapsing responsive navbar, wrap your navbar content in a containing div, .nav-collapse.collapse, and add the navbar toggle button, .btn-navbar.

<div class="navbar">
  <div class="navbar-inner">
    <div class="container">
 
      <!-- .btn-navbar is used as the toggle for collapsed navbar content -->
      <a class="btn btn-navbar" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".nav-collapse">
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
        <span class="icon-bar"></span>
      </a>
 
      <!-- Be sure to leave the brand out there if you want it shown -->
      <a class="brand" href="#">Project name</a>
 
      <!-- Everything you want hidden at 940px or less, place within here -->
      <div class="nav-collapse collapse">
        <!-- .nav, .navbar-search, .navbar-form, etc -->
      </div>
 
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Heads up! The responsive navbar requires the collapse plugin and responsive Bootstrap CSS file.

Inverted variation

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

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