How to change navigation bar color in Bootstrap ?

Last Updated : 02 May, 2024

In Bootstrap, the navigation bar color refers to the background color of the navbar component. To change the navigation bar color in Bootstrap, use utility classes like bg-primary, and bg-secondary, or customize with CSS targeting the navbar element. It determines the background color, allowing for easy color customization.

The navigation bar color can be changed in Bootstrap using 2 methods:

Table of Content

Using the inbuilt color classes
Creating a custom class for the navigation bar

Method 1: Using the inbuilt color classes

Changing the text color: The text color of the navigation bar can be changed using two inbuilt classes:

Class	Description
navbar-light	Sets text color to dark. Used with a light background.
navbar-dark	Sets text color to light. Used with the dark background.

Changing the background color:

Bootstrap 4 has a few inbuilt classes for the colors of any background. These can be used to set the color of the background of the navigation bar. The various background classes available are:

Class	Description
.bg-primary	Sets color to primary.
.bg-secondary	Sets color to secondary.
.bg-success	Sets color to success.
.bg-danger	Sets color to danger.
.bg-warning	Sets color to warning.
.bg-info	Sets color to info.
.bg-light	Sets color to light.
.bg-dark	Sets color to dark.
.bg-white	Sets color to white.
.bg-transparent	Sets navbar to transparent.

Example: In this example we demonstrates how to change the navigation bar color in Bootstrap using different background color classes like bg-light, bg-warning, bg-dark, bg-primary, bg-secondary, and bg-success.

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>
        How to change navigation bar color in Bootstrap ?
    </title>

    <!-- Include Bootstrap CSS -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" 
          href=
"https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>

<body>
    <!-- Navbar text is dark and background is light -->
    <nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-light">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Light color background
        </a>
    </nav>

    <nav class="navbar navbar-light bg-warning">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Warning color background
        </a>
    </nav>

    <!-- Navbar text is light and background is dark -->
    <nav class="navbar navbar-dark bg-dark">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Dark color background
        </a>
    </nav>

    <nav class="navbar navbar-dark bg-primary">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Primary color background
        </a>
    </nav>

    <nav class="navbar navbar-dark bg-secondary">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Secondary color background
        </a>
    </nav>

    <nav class="navbar navbar-dark bg-success">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Success color background
        </a>
    </nav>
</body>

</html>

Output:

Changing navigation bar color in Bootstrap Example Output

A custom class can be created to specify the background color and the text color of the navbar. This class is styled using CSS according to the required values. The names of the classes are kept in a manner to override the inbuilt navigation bar classes.
The background color is set by directly specifying the background-color property with the color needed.

CSS

/* Modify the background color */
.navbar-custom {
    background-color: lightgreen;
}

The navbar text and the brand text color can be set using the .navbar-text and .navbar-brand classes. These are the inbuilt navigation bar classes that are be overridden by using the same class name. The text color is specified using the color property.

CSS

 /* Modify brand and text color */
 .navbar-custom .navbar-brand,
 .navbar-custom .navbar-text {
     color: green;
 }

Example:

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>
        How to change navigation bar color in Bootstrap ?
    </title>

    <!-- Include Bootstrap CSS -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" 
          href=
"https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">

    <style>
        /* Modify the background color */

        .navbar-custom {
            background-color: lightgreen;
        }

        /* Modify brand and text color */

        .navbar-custom .navbar-brand,
        .navbar-custom .navbar-text {
            color: green;
        }
    </style>
</head>

<body>
    <!-- Navbar text is dark and background is light -->
    <nav class="navbar navbar-custom">
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
            Custom color background navbar
        </a>
    </nav>

    <div class="container">
        <b>changing navigation bar
            color in Bootstrap </b>


        <p>The above navigation bar uses a
            custom class for changing the colors.
        </p>

    </div>
</body>

</html>