Changing Navigation Bar Color in Bootstrap: Using Predefined Classes and Custom CSS

Learn various techniques for customizing the color scheme of your Bootstrap navigation bar. This tutorial demonstrates using Bootstrap's predefined color classes for quick styling and creating custom CSS for more precise color control, enhancing your website's visual appeal and branding.

Changing Navigation Bar Color in Bootstrap

Using Bootstrap Utility Classes

Bootstrap provides pre-defined classes for quickly changing the color scheme of your navigation bar. These classes modify both the background color and the text color for a consistent look. This is the easiest method, as it doesn't require writing any custom CSS. These classes are applied to the main navigation bar element (typically a `<nav>` tag with the `navbar` class).

Class	Description
`.navbar-light`	Light background, dark text.
`.navbar-dark`	Dark background, light text.
`.bg-primary`	Primary color background (usually blue).
`.bg-secondary`	Secondary color background (usually gray).
`.bg-success`	Success color background (usually green).
`.bg-danger`	Danger color background (usually red).
`.bg-warning`	Warning color background (usually yellow).
`.bg-info`	Info color background (usually light blue).
`.bg-light`	Light gray background.
`.bg-dark`	Dark gray background.
`.bg-white`	White background.
`.bg-transparent`	Transparent background.

Example: Using Bootstrap Classes

This example shows how to change the navbar color using Bootstrap classes. You would need to include the necessary Bootstrap CSS file for this to work. The class is added to the navbar's main `<nav>` element.

Example HTML (Illustrative)

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

Customizing Navbar Color with CSS

Alternatively, you can manually style the navbar using custom CSS. This gives you complete control over the colors but requires writing custom CSS rules. This is more flexible but requires more work.

Example CSS

.my-navbar {
  background-color: #007bff; /* Example custom color */
  color: white;
}

    

You would then apply the class name (e.g. `.my-navbar`) to the navbar element in your HTML. Remember that using custom CSS requires that you manage and update those styles yourself. Using Bootstrap's pre-defined classes is generally recommended for simpler color changes unless you require a highly specific or custom color scheme.