Twitter Bootstrap: What is the correct way to use the `.btn` class within a navbar?

The navbar accommodates buttons without a problem - I have buttons in the navbar without any problems, and I was able to add them to the static navbar example on the Bootstrap page:

The html should be laid out like this:

<div class="navbar navbar-fixed-top active">
  <div class="navbar-inner">
    <div class="container" style="width: auto;">
      <a class="brand" href="#">Project name</a>
      <div class="nav-collapse">
        <ul class="nav">
          ... nav links ...
        </ul>
        <form class="navbar-search pull-left" action="">
          ... search box stuff
        </form>
        <a class="btn btn-success">Sign in</a>
        <a class="btn btn-primary">Sign up</a>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

If you're not using the responsive layout to collapse the navbar on smaller screens, just put your button links one level up, in <div class="container">.

If you're still not finding the problem, try using Chrome's Dev Tools to see what CSS is being applied to the buttons that shouldn't be.

As discussed here, Wrapping the link with a div works:

<div><a class='btn' href='#'>Link</a></div>

Here is a modified version of Jared Harley's answer. This is what i ultimately used and it supports having a dropdown in the navbar.

<div class="navbar navbar-fixed-top active">
  <div class="navbar-inner">
    <div class="container" style="width: auto;">
      <a class="brand" href="#">Project name</a>
      <div class="nav-collapse">
        <ul class="nav">
          ... nav links ...
        </ul>
        <form class="navbar-search pull-left" action="">
          ... search box stuff
        </form>
        <a class="btn btn-success">Sign in</a>
        <a class="btn btn-primary">Sign up</a>
      </div>
      <div class="pull-right">
        <ul class="nav">
          <li class="dropdown">
            <a href="#" data-toggle="dropdown" class="dropdown-toggle">
              Dropdown
              <b class="caret"></b>
            </a>
            <ul class="dropdown-menu">
              <li>
                <a href="#">item</a>
              </li>
              <li class="divider"></li>
              <li>
                <a href="#">another item</a>
              </li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="divider-vertical"></li>
        </ul>
        <a class="btn btn-primary" href="#">Primary</a>
        <a class="btn btn-success" href="#">Success</a>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

<div class="navbar navbar-inverse navbar-fixed-top">
    <div class="navbar-inner">
        <div class="container">
            <a class="brand" href="#">Brand name</a>
            <ul class="nav">
                <li class="active"><a href="#">Main</a></li>
                <li><a href="#about">Next one</a></li>
            </ul>


            <div class="btn-group pull-right">
                <a class="btn btn-small dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown"><i class="icon-user"></i> Trololo</a>
                <ul class="dropdown-menu">
                    <li><a href="#">Action</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Another action</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Something else here</a></li>
                    <li class="divider"></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Separated link</a></li>
                </ul>
            </div>


        </div>
    </div>
</div>