Change navbar color in Twitter Bootstrap

Solution 1:

tl;dr - TWBSColor - Generate your own Bootstrap navbar

Version notes: - Online tool: Bootstrap 3.3.2+ / 4.0.0+ - This answer: Bootstrap 3.0.x

Available navbars

You've got two basic navbars:

<!-- A light one -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-default" role="navigation"></nav>
<!-- A dark one -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse" role="navigation"></nav>

Default color usage

Here are the main colors and their usage:

#F8F8F8: navbar background
#E7E7E7: navbar border
#777: default color
#333: hover color (#5E5E5E for .nav-brand)
#555: active color
#D5D5D5: active background

Default style

If you want to put some custom style, here's the CSS you need to change:

/* navbar */
.navbar-default {
    background-color: #F8F8F8;
    border-color: #E7E7E7;
}
/* Title */
.navbar-default .navbar-brand {
    color: #777;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-brand:hover,
.navbar-default .navbar-brand:focus {
    color: #5E5E5E;
}
/* Link */
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > li > a {
    color: #777;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > li > a:hover,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > li > a:focus {
    color: #333;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .active > a,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .active > a:hover,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .active > a:focus {
    color: #555;
    background-color: #E7E7E7;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .open > a,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .open > a:hover,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .open > a:focus {
    color: #555;
    background-color: #D5D5D5;
}
/* Caret */
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .dropdown > a .caret {
    border-top-color: #777;
    border-bottom-color: #777;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .dropdown > a:hover .caret,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .dropdown > a:focus .caret {
    border-top-color: #333;
    border-bottom-color: #333;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .open > a .caret,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .open > a:hover .caret,
.navbar-default .navbar-nav > .open > a:focus .caret {
    border-top-color: #555;
    border-bottom-color: #555;
}
/* Mobile version */
.navbar-default .navbar-toggle {
    border-color: #DDD;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-toggle:hover,
.navbar-default .navbar-toggle:focus {
    background-color: #DDD;
}
.navbar-default .navbar-toggle .icon-bar {
    background-color: #CCC;
}
@media (max-width: 767px) {
    .navbar-default .navbar-nav .open .dropdown-menu > li > a {
        color: #777;
    }
    .navbar-default .navbar-nav .open .dropdown-menu > li > a:hover,
    .navbar-default .navbar-nav .open .dropdown-menu > li > a:focus {
          color: #333;
    }
}

Custom colored navbar examples

Here are four examples of a custom colored navbar:

Enter image description here

And the SCSS code:

$bgDefault   : #e74c3c;
$bgHighlight : #c0392b;
$colDefault  : #ecf0f1;
$colHighlight: #ffbbbc;
.navbar-default {
  background-color: $bgDefault;
  border-color: $bgHighlight;
  .navbar-brand {
    color: $colDefault;
    &:hover, &:focus {
      color: $colHighlight; }}
  .navbar-text {
    color: $colDefault; }
  .navbar-nav {
    > li {
      > a {
        color: $colDefault;
        &:hover,  &:focus {
          color: $colHighlight; }}}
    > .active {
      > a, > a:hover, > a:focus {
        color: $colHighlight;
        background-color: $bgHighlight; }}
    > .open {
      > a, > a:hover, > a:focus {
        color: $colHighlight;
        background-color: $bgHighlight; }}}
  .navbar-toggle {
    border-color: $bgHighlight;
    &:hover, &:focus {
      background-color: $bgHighlight; }
    .icon-bar {
      background-color: $colDefault; }}
  .navbar-collapse,
  .navbar-form {
    border-color: $colDefault; }
  .navbar-link {
    color: $colDefault;
    &:hover {
      color: $colHighlight; }}}
@media (max-width: 767px) {
  .navbar-default .navbar-nav .open .dropdown-menu {
    > li > a {
      color: $colDefault;
      &:hover, &:focus {
        color: $colHighlight; }}
    > .active {
      > a, > a:hover, > a:focus, {
        color: $colHighlight;
        background-color: $bgHighlight; }}}
}

And finally, a little gift

I've just made a script which will allow you to generate your theme: TWBSColor - Generate your own Bootstrap navbar

[Update]: TWBSColor now generates SCSS/SASS/Less/CSS code.
[Update]: From now, you can use Less as the default language provided by TWBSColor
[Update]: TWBSColor now supports drop down menus colorization
[Update]: TWBSColor now allows to choose your version (Bootstrap 4 support added)

Solution 2:

Bootstrap 5 (update 2021)

By default, the Navbar is transparent in Bootstrap 5. Not much has changed since Bootstrap 4 for changing the Navbar background color, text color, links, dropdown and hover styles..

/* change the background color */
.navbar-custom {
    background-color: #4433cc;
}

/* change the brand and text color */
.navbar-custom .navbar-brand,
.navbar-custom .navbar-text {
    color: #ffcc00;
}

/* change the link color */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .nav-link {
    color: #ffbb00;
}

/* change the color of active or hovered links */
.navbar-custom .nav-item.active .nav-link,
.navbar-custom .nav-item:focus .nav-link,
.navbar-custom .nav-item:hover .nav-link {
    color: pink;
}

/* for dropdowns only */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-menu {
    background-color: #ddaa11;
}

/* dropdown item text color */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-item {
    color: #000000;
}

/* dropdown item hover or focus */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-item:hover,
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-item:focus {
    color: #eeeeee;
    background-color: red;
}

Bootstrap 5 custom navbar color demo

Bootstrap 4.3 (update 2020)

Changing the Navbar color is different (and a little easier) in Bootstrap 4. You can create a custom navbar class, and then reference it to change the navbar without impacting other Bootstrap navs..

<nav class="navbar navbar-custom">...</nav>

Bootstrap 4.3+

The CSS required to change the Navbar is much less in Bootstrap 4...

.navbar-custom {
    background-color: #ff5500;
}
/* change the brand and text color */
.navbar-custom .navbar-brand,
.navbar-custom .navbar-text {
    color: rgba(255,255,255,.8);
}
/* change the link color */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .nav-link {
    color: rgba(255,255,255,.5);
}
/* change the color of active or hovered links */
.navbar-custom .nav-item.active .nav-link,
.navbar-custom .nav-item:hover .nav-link {
    color: #ffffff;
}

Bootstrap 4 Custom Navbar Demo enter image description here

Changing the active/hover link background color also works with the same CSS, but you must adjust the padding if you want the bg color to fill the full height of the link...

py-0 to remove vertical padding from the entire navbar...

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm navbar-custom py-0">..</nav>

/* change the link color and padding  */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .nav-link {
    color: rgba(255,255,255,.5);
    padding: .75rem 1rem;
}

/* change the color and background color of active links */
.navbar-custom .nav-item.active .nav-link,
.navbar-custom .nav-item:hover .nav-link {
    color: #ffffff;
    background-color: #333;
}

Bootstrap 4 Change Link and Background Color Demo

Also see: How can I change the Bootstrap 4 navbar button icon color?

**Bootstrap 3**

    <nav class="navbar navbar-custom">
      <div class="navbar-header">
        <button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".navbar-collapse">...
        </button>
        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Title</a>
      </div>
       ...
    </nav>


    .navbar-custom {
        background-color:#229922;
        color:#ffffff;
        border-radius:0;
    }
      
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > li > a {
        color:#fff;
    }
    
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > .active > a {
        color: #ffffff;
        background-color:transparent;
    }
          
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > li > a:hover,
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > li > a:focus,
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > .active > a:hover,
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > .active > a:focus,
    .navbar-custom .navbar-nav > .open >a {
        text-decoration: none;
        background-color: #33aa33;
    }
         
    .navbar-custom .navbar-brand {
        color:#eeeeee;
    }
    .navbar-custom .navbar-toggle {
        background-color:#eeeeee;
    }
    .navbar-custom .icon-bar {
        background-color:#33aa33;
    }

Custom Navbar Demo on Bootply

If the Navbar has dropdowns, add the following to change dropdown color(s):

/* for dropdowns only */
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-menu  { 
  background-color: #33aa33;
}
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-menu>li>a  { 
  color: #fff;
}
.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-menu>li>a:hover,.navbar-custom .navbar-nav .dropdown-menu>li>a:focus  { 
  color: #33aa33;
}

Demo with Dropdown

If you want to change the theme colors all together (beyond the navbar), see this answer