Bootstrap Navbars

While developing a responsive website, one of the most important components is the Bootstrap Navbar. With the Bootstrap 5 Navbar, which is the latest version of Bootstrap, you get access to a flexible navigation system that contains branding, links, dropdowns, forms, and togglers. It adapts easily to different screen sizes and can be customized to match your project’s design requirements.

In this blog, we are going to talk about how to create a Bootstrap Navbar, along with real-world examples. So let’s get started!

Table of Contents:

• What is a Bootstrap Navbar?
• Example of Bootstrap Navbar
• Responsive Bootstrap Navbar with Toggler
• Bootstrap Navbar with Dropdown
• Bootstrap Navbar with Search Box
• Fixed and Sticky Bootstrap Navbar
  • Fixed Navbar
  • Sticky Navbar
• Bootstrap Navbar Customization
• Bottom Fixed Navbar
• Comparison Between Fixed-Top, Sticky-Top, and Fixed-Bottom Navbars
• Conclusion

What is a Bootstrap Navbar?

A Bootstrap Navbar is a responsive navigation bar that helps you move around a website. It is built in such a way that it works well on all screen sizes. It consists of a layout system called flexbox that helps you to arrange items in a proper way. Built with a mobile-first design, it works seamlessly on small screens. The Navbar can also turn itself into a toggle button on small screens, hence the items in the menu remain hidden until they are clicked. You can also add extra features like dropdown menus, search boxes, buttons, or the logo of your brand. This makes the Bootstrap Navbar a useful tool for creating user-friendly navigation on any website.

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Example of Bootstrap Navbar

To create a basic Bootstrap 5 Navbar, you can use classes like navbar, navbar-expand-lg, and navbar-light. The .navbar class defines the main structure. navbar-expand-lg helps you to ensure that the navbar expands on large screens and collapses on small screens. The navbar-light is used for styling the text for light backgrounds. With these built-in classes, you can create a neat and responsive Bootstrap Navbar with less effort.

Given below is a sample HTML code for a Bootstrap Navbar:

Code:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a Bootstrap Navbar. It consists of one brand name and three buttons of site navigation (Home, About, Contact). These buttons are responsive and are styled for a light background.

Responsive Bootstrap Navbar with Toggler

In a Bootstrap Navbar, the menu becomes collapsible on smaller screens with the help of a hamburger icon. This can be done using the navbar-toggler button, which toggles the visibility of menu items that are present inside a collapse navbar-collapse div. You can also combine it with navbar-expand-lg, which makes your Bootstrap navbar responsive and easy to use on all types of devices.

Code:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a responsive Bootstrap Navbar that has a black background, brand name, a toggle button for small screens, and two links that are aligned to the right: Dashboard and Settings.

Bootstrap Navbar with Dropdown

In order to improve Bootstrap Navbar, dropdown menus can be added. This helps to group all the links that are related to each other, thus making navigation more organized. You can also use classes like nav-item, dropdown, dropdown-toggle, and dropdown-menu for creating the structure. These help to make your Bootstrap Navbar cleaner and easier to use.

Code:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a responsive Bootstrap Navbar with a brand name. It also contains a toggle button for small screens, and a dropdown menu which is labeled as “Services” containing three submenu items (Web Design, SEO, Marketing).

Bootstrap Navbar with Search Box

To add a search bar to your Bootstrap Navbar, you could use a form element like d-flex, form-control, and btn, among other elements of Bootstrap. You can also place a search input and button inside the navbar. This enhances user interaction by providing quick access to search functionality without leaving the navigation area.

Example:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a simple Bootstrap Navbar. It has a light background, a brand name on the left side, and a search bar on the right.

Fixed and Sticky Bootstrap Navbar

If you want your Bootstrap Navbar to be visible while you scroll, you can use fixed or sticky headers. You can also include the class fixed-top, which keeps the Navbar fixed at the top of the page at all times, whether you scroll the page or not. On the other hand, you can use the sticky-top to keep the navbar at the top once it reaches that point while scrolling. These options help you to improve the user experience by keeping the Bootstrap Navbar accessible all the time.

Fixed Navbar

Given below is the sample code for Fixed Navbar:

Code:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a Bootstrap fixed-top navbar. It consists of a blue background that remains on top while you are scrolling.

Sticky Navbar

Given below is a sample code for Sticky Navbar:

Code:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a Bootstrap Navbar. It contains a yellow background that sticks to the top of the page during scrolling.

Bootstrap Navbar Customization

Customizing the Bootstrap Navbar helps you to change the look and behavior of your navbar. It uses built-in utility classes and styles. It is also possible to change the part of the background colors with classes such as bg-dark or bg-success. It is also possible to change the padding with the utilities, such as px-4 or py-3, and also the style of the words, such as text-white, fs-4, or fw-bold. Also, the flex utilities can include buttons, icons, or align items. This helps you to make your Bootstrap navbar appealing to the human eye and suits better with your website’s branding and layout needs.

A sample code for Bootstrap Navbar Customization is given below:

Code:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a customized Bootstrap Navbar. It contains a green background, a bold brand name, white navigation links, and a login button that is aligned to the right of the webpage.

Bottom Fixed Navbar

A Bottom Fixed Navbar in Bootstrap 5 remains at the bottom of the screen, even while scrolling through the page. You can create it using the fixed-bottom class on your Bootstrap Navbar. This helps to ensure that the navbar always remains visible at the bottom. 

Given below is a sample code for Bottom Fixed Navbar:

Output:

Explanation:

The above code is used to create a Bootstrap bottom-fixed navbar. It contains a black background that remains visible at the bottom of the screen while scrolling. It also contains padding to prevent the content from overlapping.

Comparison Between Fixed-Top, Sticky-Top, and Fixed-Bottom Navbars

Given below is the comparison between Fixed-Top, Sticky-Top, and Fixed-Bottom Navbars in a tabular format:

Conclusion

A Bootstrap Navbar is an efficient and versatile element. It helps you to build responsive web designs that are mainly intended for smaller screen sizes like mobile phones. Bootstrap Navbar provides you with a variety of navbars like navbars for simple top navigation, a collapsible menu for smaller screen sizes, a dropdown to make sure that the links are organized, a search bar to get quick access to everything in the webpage, or a sticky navbar to make sure it remains fixed at the top or the bottom of the webpage. The Bootstrap Navbar also provides you with ready-to-use classes and many customization options to help you meet your needs. By using such utilities, colors, and spacing classes, you can personalize your navbar to suit your brand and enhance the user experience across various devices.

Bootstrap Navbars – FAQs