Bootstrap: how do I change the width of the container?

Here is the solution :

@media (min-width: 1200px) {
    .container{
        max-width: 970px;
    }
}

The advantage of doing this, versus customizing Bootstrap as in @Bastardo's answer, is that it doesn't change the Bootstrap file. For example, if using a CDN, you can still download most of Bootstrap from the CDN.

Go to the Customize section on Bootstrap site and choose the size you prefer. You'll have to set @gridColumnWidth and @gridGutterWidth variables.

For example: @gridColumnWidth = 65px and @gridGutterWidth = 20px results on a 1000px layout.

Then download it.

You are tying one had behind your back saying that you won't use the LESS files. I built my first Twitter Bootstrap theme using 2.0, and I did everything in CSS -- creating an override.css file. It took days to get things to work correctly.

Now we have 3.0. Let me assure you that it takes less time to learn LESS, which is pretty straight forward if you're comfortable with CSS, than doing all of those crazy CSS overrides. Making changes like the one you want is a piece of cake.

In Bootstrap 3.0, the container class controls the width, and all of the contained styles adjust to fill the container. The container width variables are at the bottom of the variables.less file.

// Container sizes
// --------------------------------------------------

// Small screen / tablet
@container-tablet:            ((720px + @grid-gutter-width));

// Medium screen / desktop
@container-desktop:           ((940px + @grid-gutter-width));

// Large screen / wide desktop
@container-lg-desktop:        ((1020px + @grid-gutter-width));

Some sites either don't have enough content to fill the 1020 display or you want a narrower frame for aesthetic reasons. Because BS uses a 12-column grid I use a multiple like 960.

@mcbjam already gave this answer but here's a bit more explanation.

You can easily make the change using a media query in your CSS file without downloading BS. I just did this and it works beautifully.

The media query's "min-width" value will tell CSS to change the width of your container to 1000px only on screens larger than 1200px (or whatever width you choose to include there). This preserves the responsiveness of your site, so when the screen size jumps below that value (smaller monitor, tablet, smartphone, etc.), your site will still adjust to fit the smaller screens.

@media (min-width: 1200px) {
  .container {
    width: 1000px;
  }
}