How to Design Full Width Dropdown Navbar using Bootstrap?

Last Updated : 26 Jun, 2024

A full-width dropdown navbar is a popular design element in modern web development, providing a responsive and user-friendly navigation experience. Using Bootstrap, a powerful front-end framework, simplifies the creation of such a navbar with its built-in classes and responsive grid system. This guide will demonstrate how to design a full-width dropdown navbar using Bootstrap, ensuring it is both aesthetically pleasing and functional across various devices and screen sizes.

Below are the approaches to design full width dropdown navbar using Bootstrap:

Table of Content

By adding external CSS
By using Bootstrap internal class

By adding external CSS

In Bootstrap 4, full width dropdown in Navbar might be possible by adding CSS properties either internally or externally based on conveniences. Focus on class dropdown and dropdown-menu only.
First focus dropdown which is parent class of dropdown-menu then make it as static in position.
Now, make top margin of dropdown-menu as zero pixel and add width to 100%.
Then add box shadow to highlight the dropdown-menu (decorative purpose).
We can also use CSS properties through inline method.

Example: Below example illustrate how to make a Bootstrap 4 full width dropdown in Navbar using CSS properties.

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" 
          content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href=
"https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">
    <script src=
"https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.4.1/jquery.min.js">
    </script>
    <script src=
"https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.14.7/umd/popper.min.js">
    </script>
    <script src=
"https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/js/bootstrap.min.js">
    </script>
    <style>
        .dropdown {
            position: static !important;
        }
        
        .dropdown-menu {
            box-shadow: 0 .5rem 1rem rgba(0, 0, 0, .15)!important;
            margin-top: 0px !important;
            width: 100% !important;
        }
    </style>
</head>

<body>
    <div class="fluid-container">
        <center>
            <h1 style="color:green;padding:13px;">
              GeeksforGeeeks
            </h1>
            <b>Bootstrap 4 full width dropdown in Navbar</b>
            <br>
            <br>
            <nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-dark
                        justify-content-between text-white"
                 style="background-color: green;">
                <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
                    <img src=
"https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/gfg_transparent_white_small.png"
                         width="30" height="30" 
                         class="d-inline-block align-top" alt=""> 
                  GfG BS4 Navbar
                </a>
                <button class="navbar-toggler " 
                        type="button" data-toggle="collapse" 
                        data-target="#navbarNavDropdown01" 
                        aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown01"
                        aria-expanded="false" 
                        aria-label="Toggle navigation" 
                        style="outline-color:#fff">
                    <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
                </button>

                <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" 
                     id="navbarNavDropdown01">

                    <ul class="navbar-nav ">
                      
                        <!--dropdown item of menu-->
                        <li class="nav-item dropdown">
                            <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" 
                               href="#" id="navbarDropdown" 
                               role="button" data-toggle="dropdown"
                               aria-haspopup="true" 
                               aria-expanded="false">
                              Dropdown 01
                            </a>
                          
                            <!--dropdown sub items of menu-->
                            <div class="dropdown-menu"
                                 aria-labelledby="navbarDropdown">
                                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">
                                  Action 01
                                </a>
                                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">
                                  Action 02
                                </a>
                                <div class="dropdown-divider"></div>
                                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">
                                  More Content here 
                                </a>
                            </div>
                        </li>
                        <li class="nav-item dropdown">
                            <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" 
                               href="#" id="navbarDropdown" 
                               role="button"
                               data-toggle="dropdown" 
                               aria-haspopup="true" 
                               aria-expanded="false">
                              Dropdown 02
                            </a>
                          
                            <!--dropdown sub items of menu-->
                            <div class="dropdown-menu" 
                                 aria-labelledby="navbarDropdown" 
                                 style="max-width: 1366px;">
                                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">
                                  Action 01
                                </a>
                                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">
                                  Action 02
                                </a>
                                <div class="dropdown-divider"></div>
                                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">
                                  More Content here 
                                </a>
                            </div>
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                    
                    <!--Form item of menu for search purpose-->
                    <form class="form-inline ml-auto ">

                        <input class="form-control mr-sm-4"
                               type="search" placeholder="Search"
                               aria-label="Search">
                        <button class="btn btn-success my-4 my-sm-2 "
                                type="submit">Search</button>
                    </form>
                </div>
            </nav>
        </center>
    </div>

</body>

</html>

Output:

By using Bootstrap internal class

In Bootstrap, full width dropdown in Navbar might be possible by using Bootstrap utilities.
Similar to approach 1, focus on class dropdown and dropdown-menu only.
Adding class position-static along with dropdown class, which is the parent class of dropdown-menu.
Now, add class w-100, mt-0 along with dropdown-menu class.

Example: Below example illustrate how to make a Bootstrap full width dropdown in Navbar using Bootstrap utilities.