Bootstrap 5 Navbars


Navigation Bars

A navigation bar is a navigation header that is placed at the top of the page:


Basic Navbar

With Bootstrap, a navigation bar can extend or collapse, depending on the screen size.

A standard navigation bar is created with the .navbar class, followed by a responsive collapsing class: .navbar-expand-xxl|xl|lg|md|sm (stacks the navbar vertically on xxlarge, extra large, large, medium or small screens).

To add links inside the navbar, use either an <ul> element (or a <div>) with class="navbar-nav". Then add <li> elements with a .nav-item class followed by an <a> element with a .nav-link class:

Example

<!-- A grey horizontal navbar that becomes vertical on small screens -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-light">

  <div class="container-fluid">
    <!-- Links -->
    <ul class="navbar-nav">
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link 1</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link 2</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link 3</a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>

</nav>
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Vertical Navbar

Remove the .navbar-expand-* class to create a navigation bar that will always be vertical:

Example

<!-- A grey vertical navbar -->
<nav class="navbar bg-light">
  ...
</nav>
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Centered Navbar

Add the .justify-content-center class to center the navigation bar:

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-light justify-content-center">
  ...
</nav>
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Colored Navbar




Use any of the .bg-color classes to change the background color of the navbar (.bg-primary, .bg-success, .bg-info, .bg-warning, .bg-danger, .bg-secondary, .bg-dark and .bg-light)

Tip: Add a white text color to all links in the navbar with the .navbar-dark class, or use the .navbar-light class to add a black text color.

Example

<!-- Grey with black text -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-light navbar-light">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <ul class="navbar-nav">
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link active" href="#">Active</a>
      </li>
     <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
      </li>
      <li class="nav-item">
        <a class="nav-link disabled" href="#">Disabled</a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</nav>

<!-- Black background with white text -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark">...</nav>

<!-- Blue background with white text -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-primary navbar-dark">...</nav>
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Active/disabled state: Add the .active class to an <a> element to highlight the current link, or the .disabled class to indicate that the link is un-clickable.


Brand / Logo

The .navbar-brand class is used to highlight the brand/logo/project name of your page:

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Logo</a>
  </div>
</nav>
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When using the .navbar-brand class with images, Bootstrap 5 will automatically style the image to fit the navbar vertically.

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
      <img src="logo.png" alt="Avatar Logo" style="width:40px;" class="rounded-pill"> 
    </a>
  </div>
</nav>
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Navbar Text

Use the .navbar-text class to vertical align any elements inside the navbar that are not links (ensures proper padding and text color).

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <span class="navbar-text">Navbar text</span>
  </div>
</nav>
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Very often, especially on small screens, you want to hide the navigation links and replace them with a button that should reveal them when clicked on.

To create a collapsible navigation bar, use a button with class="navbar-toggler", data-bs-toggle="collapse" and data-bs-target="#thetarget". Then wrap the navbar content (links, etc) inside a <div> element with class="collapse navbar-collapse", followed by an id that matches the data-bs-target of the button: "thetarget".

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Logo</a>
    <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#collapsibleNavbar">
      <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
    </button>
    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="collapsibleNavbar">
      <ul class="navbar-nav">
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </div>
  </div>
</nav>
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Tip: You can also remove the .navbar-expand-md class to ALWAYS hide navbar links and display the toggler button.


Navbar With Dropdown

Navbars can also hold dropdown menus:

Example

<li class="nav-item dropdown">
  <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown">Dropdown</a>
  <ul class="dropdown-menu">
    <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another link</a></li>
    <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">A third link</a></li>
  </ul>
</li>
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Navbar Forms and Buttons

You can also include forms inside the navigation bar:

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm navbar-dark bg-dark">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="javascript:void(0)">Logo</a>
    <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#mynavbar">
      <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
    </button>
    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="mynavbar">
      <ul class="navbar-nav me-auto">
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a class="nav-link" href="javascript:void(0)">Link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a class="nav-link" href="javascript:void(0)">Link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <a class="nav-link" href="javascript:void(0)">Link</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
      <form class="d-flex">
        <input class="form-control me-2" type="text" placeholder="Search">
        <button class="btn btn-primary" type="button">Search</button>
      </form>
    </div>
  </div>
</nav>
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Fixed Navigation Bar

The navigation bar can also be fixed at the top or at the bottom of the page.

A fixed navigation bar stays visible in a fixed position (top or bottom) independent of the page scroll.

The .fixed-top class makes the navigation bar fixed at the top:

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark fixed-top">
  ...
</nav>
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Use the .fixed-bottom class to make the navbar stay at the bottom of the page:

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark fixed-bottom">
  ...
</nav>
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Use the .sticky-top class to make the navbar fixed/stay at the top of the page when you scroll past it. Note: This class does not work in IE11 and earlier (will treat it as position:relative).

Example

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm bg-dark navbar-dark sticky-top">
  ...
</nav>
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