How to add own icons in bootstrap navbar

Question

Working on a project, where i started on the navbar. The thing i am wondering if its possible to add my own icons right next to each of the menu bars ? For example this icons: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0be3c7ub4245kd6/zNMrvFi6Wq

Like this:

• DEMO

Code:

<!-- Fixed navbar -->
    <div class="navbar navbar-default navbar-fixed-top" role="navigation">
      <div class="container">
        <div class="navbar-header">
          <button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".navbar-collapse">
            <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
            <span class="icon-bar"></span>
            <span class="icon-bar"></span>
            <span class="icon-bar"></span>
          </button>
          <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Project name</a>
        </div>
        <div class="navbar-collapse collapse">
          <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
            <li class="active"><a href="#">Home</a></li>
            <li><a href="#about">About</a></li>
            <li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>

          </ul>

        </div><!--/.nav-collapse -->
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="container">

      <!-- Main component for a primary marketing message or call to action -->
      <div class="jumbotron">
        <h1>Navbar example</h1>
        <p>This example is a quick exercise to illustrate how the default, static and fixed to top navbar work. It includes the responsive CSS and HTML, so it also adapts to your viewport and device.</p>
        <p>To see the difference between static and fixed top navbars, just scroll.</p>
        <p>
          <a class="btn btn-lg btn-primary" href="../../components/#navbar" role="button">View navbar docs &raquo;</a>
        </p>
      </div>

    </div> <!-- /container -->

Answer 1

You can either use font awesome or the bootstrap glyph icons. Just add something like this before the text for a glyphicon:

<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-search"></span>

Or this for font awesome

<span class="fa fa-search"></span>

Or you can create your image icons and create css classes for your icons.

Your updated demo

Answer 2

Here's a way to do it without adding any additional markup, though you do need to add unique classes to each of the anchor links.

CSS:

.navbar-default .navbar-nav>.active>a:before,
.navbar-nav>li>a:before {
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: 0 top;
    content: "";
    display: inline-block;
    height: 29px;
    margin-right: 10px;
    vertical-align: middle;
    width: 29px;
}

.navbar-default .navbar-nav>.active>a.home:before,
.navbar-nav>li>a.home:before { background-image: url('https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/sh/0be3c7ub4245kd6/18Xnfucw14/home.png'); }

.navbar-default .navbar-nav>.active>a.about:before,
.navbar-nav>li>a.about:before {  background-image: url('https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/sh/0be3c7ub4245kd6/DhXiON5YiL/kveld.png'); }

.navbar-default .navbar-nav>.active>a.contact:before,
.navbar-nav>li>a.contact:before {  background-image: url('https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/sh/0be3c7ub4245kd6/_fidqgglaS/sol.png'); }

You can view the result here: http://jsfiddle.net/2WvpV/

You'll need to play around with the margins and padding. Also, this isn't perfect because you should probably use relative sizing rather than pixels.

Answer 3

Ok @TrevorOrr answer for Bootstrap standard glyphs, but remember to envelope <span> tag inside the <a> tag. Example:

<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse navbar-fixed-top" role="navigation">
  <div class="navbar-collapse collapse">
    <ul class="nav navbar-nav navbar-left">
      <li><a href="#">Envelope icon: <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-envelope"></span></a></li> 
    </ul>
  </div>
</nav>    

If you do not include the <span> inside the anchor, the glyph is not displayed.

Answer 4

I had a similar problem, but the solution picked here didn't work. I had to mash the two answers together for it to work, that is, apply background attributes to a <span class="icone icone-custom pull-right"> nested within the <a>. No :before.