html - How to center navbar in Bootstrap 4 using Flexbox

Question

Well, I want to achieve this thing:

using the Bootstrap 4 Navbar.

How can I centralize the nav-links/items in the middle of the viewport using the flexbox or .mr-auto etc utilities. I am trying to avoid a CSS based positioning approach because it may look off on different devices. But sure if a CSS approach promises to be at the same centralized position then why not!

NOTE: some ppl might say to use the justify utilities, the problem is you can't use them as the .navbar-brand and the .navbar-nav can't be wrapped inside a <div>. If I do so, the layout messes up.

<nav class="navbar navbar-toggleable-md navbar-light bg-custom card-shadow-bottom">

    <div class="container">

        <button class="navbar-toggler navbar-toggler-right" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarSupportedContent" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
            <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
        </button>

        <a class="navbar-brand" href="#"><img src="img/nav-logo.png" alt="logo" class="nav-logo"></a>

        <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarSupportedContent">
            <ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto mr-auto">
                <li class="nav-item">
                    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home</a>
                </li>
                <li class="nav-item">
                    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
                </li>
                <li class="nav-item">
                    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Disabled</a>
                </li>
            </ul>
        </div>

    </div>

</nav>

Answer 1

Use the flexbox utilities to align components the way you want. Here the justify-content-center is used to center the navbar-nav.

<nav class="navbar navbar-fixed-top navbar-toggleable-sm navbar-inverse bg-primary justify-content-between">
    <button class="navbar-toggler navbar-toggler-right" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#collapsingNavbar">
        <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
    </button>
    <a href="/" class="navbar-brand">Brand</a>
    <div class="navbar-collapse collapse justify-content-center" id="collapsingNavbar">
        <ul class="navbar-nav">
            <li class="nav-item active">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link <span class="sr-only">Home</span></a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#" data-toggle="collapse">Link</a>
            </li>
        </ul>

    </div>
    <ul class="nav navbar-nav flex-row">
        <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link pr-3" href=""><i class="fa fa-facebook"></i></a></li>
        <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="fa fa-twitter"></i></a></li>
    </ul>
</nav>

More Navbar alignment examples

Update Bootstrap 4.0.0

navbar-toggleable-sm is now navbar-expand-md
navbar-inverse is now navbar-dark
navbar-fixed-top is now fixed-top