On top of the scaffolding, basic HTML elements are styled and enhanced with extensible classes to provide a fresh, consistent look and feel.
The entire typographic grid is based on two Less variables in our variables.less file: @baseFontSize and @baseLineHeight. The first is the base font-size used throughout and the second is the base line-height.
We use those variables, and some math, to create the margins, paddings, and line-heights of all our type and more.
Nullam quis risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nullam id dolor id nibh ultricies vehicula ut id elit.
Vivamus sagittis lacus vel augue laoreet rutrum faucibus dolor auctor. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit. Donec sed odio dui.
| Element | Usage | Optional |
|---|---|---|
<strong>
|
For emphasizing a snippet of text with important | None |
<em>
|
For emphasizing a snippet of text with stress | None |
<abbr>
|
Wraps abbreviations and acronyms to show the expanded version on hover |
Include optional .initialism class for uppercase abbreviations.
|
<address>
|
For contact information for its nearest ancestor or the entire body of work |
Preserve formatting by ending all lines with <br>
|
Fusce dapibus, tellus ac cursus commodo, tortor mauris condimentum nibh, ut fermentum massa justo sit amet risus. Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Nulla vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue.
Note: Feel free to use <b> and <i> in HTML5, but their usage has changed a bit. <b> is meant to highlight words or phrases without conveying additional importance while <i> is mostly for voice, technical terms, etc.
Here are two examples of how the <address> tag can be used:
Abbreviations with a title attribute have a light dotted bottom border and a help cursor on hover. This gives users extra indication something will be shown on hover.
Add the initialism class to an abbreviation to increase typographic harmony by giving it a slightly smaller text size.
HTML is the best thing since sliced bread.
An abbreviation of the word attribute is attr.
| Element | Usage | Optional |
|---|---|---|
<blockquote>
|
Block-level element for quoting content from another source |
Add .pull-left and .pull-right classes for floated options
|
<small>
|
Optional element for adding a user-facing citation, typically an author with title of work |
Place the <cite> around the title or name of source
|
To include a blockquote, wrap <blockquote> around any HTML as the quote. For straight quotes we recommend a <p>.
Include an optional <small> element to cite your source and you'll get an em dash — before it for styling purposes.
<blockquote> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis.</p> <small>Someone famous</small> </blockquote>
Default blockquotes are styled as such:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis.
Someone famous in Body of work
To float your blockquote to the right, add class="pull-right":
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis.
Someone famous in Body of work
<ul>
<ul class="unstyled">
<ol>
<dl>
<dl class="dl-horizontal">
Wrap inline snippets of code with <code>.
For example, <code>section</code> should be wrapped as inline.
Use <pre> for multiple lines of code. Be sure to escape any angle brackets in the code for proper rendering.
<p>Sample text here...</p>
<pre> <p>Sample text here...</p> </pre>
Note: Be sure to keep code within <pre> tags as close to the left as possible; it will render all tabs.
You may optionally add the .pre-scrollable class which will set a max-height of 350px and provide a y-axis scrollbar.
Take the same <pre> element and add two optional classes for enhanced rendering.
<p>Sample text here...</p>
<pre class="prettyprint
linenums">
<p>Sample text here...</p>
</pre>
Download google-code-prettify and view the readme for how to use.
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
<table>
|
Wrapping element for displaying data in a tabular format |
<thead>
|
Container element for table header rows (<tr>) to label table columns
|
<tbody>
|
Container element for table rows (<tr>) in the body of the table
|
<tr>
|
Container element for a set of table cells (<td> or <th>) that appears on a single row
|
<td>
|
Default table cell |
<th>
|
Special table cell for column (or row, depending on scope and placement) labels Must be used within a <thead>
|
<caption>
|
Description or summary of what the table holds, especially useful for screen readers |
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>…</th>
<th>…</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>…</td>
<td>…</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
| Name | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Default | None | No styles, just columns and rows |
| Basic |
.table
|
Only horizontal lines between rows |
| Bordered |
.table-bordered
|
Rounds corners and adds outer border |
| Zebra-stripe |
.table-striped
|
Adds light gray background color to odd rows (1, 3, 5, etc) |
| Condensed |
.table-condensed
|
Cuts vertical padding in half, from 8px to 4px, within all td and th elements |
Tables are automatically styled with only a few borders to ensure readability and maintain structure. With 2.0, the .table class is required.
<table class="table"> … </table>
| # | First Name | Last Name | Username |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark | Otto | @mdo |
| 2 | Jacob | Thornton | @fat |
| 3 | Larry | the Bird |
Get a little fancy with your tables by adding zebra-striping—just add the .table-striped class.
Note: Striped tables use the :nth-child CSS selector and is not available in IE7-IE8.
<table class="table table-striped"> … </table>
| # | First Name | Last Name | Username |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark | Otto | @mdo |
| 2 | Jacob | Thornton | @fat |
| 3 | Larry | the Bird |
Add borders around the entire table and rounded corners for aesthetic purposes.
<table class="table table-bordered"> … </table>
| # | First Name | Last Name | Username |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark | Otto | @mdo |
| Mark | Otto | @getbootstrap | |
| 2 | Jacob | Thornton | @fat |
| 3 | Larry the Bird | ||
Make your tables more compact by adding the .table-condensed class to cut table cell padding in half (from 8px to 4px).
<table class="table table-condensed"> … </table>
| # | First Name | Last Name | Username |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark | Otto | @mdo |
| 2 | Jacob | Thornton | @fat |
| 3 | Larry the Bird | ||
Feel free to combine any of the table classes to achieve different looks by utilizing any of the available classes.
<table class="table table-striped table-bordered table-condensed"> ... </table>
| Full name | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| # | First Name | Last Name | Username |
| 1 | Mark | Otto | @mdo |
| 2 | Jacob | Thornton | @fat |
| 3 | Larry the Bird | ||
The best part about forms in Bootstrap is that all your inputs and controls look great no matter how you build them in your markup. No superfluous HTML is required, but we provide the patterns for those who require it.
More complicated layouts come with succinct and scalable classes for easy styling and event binding, so you're covered at every step.
Bootstrap comes with support for four types of form layouts:
Different types of form layouts require some changes to markup, but the controls themselves remain and behave the same.
Bootstrap's forms include styles for all the base form controls like input, textarea, and select you'd expect. But it also comes with a number of custom components like appended and prepended inputs and support for lists of checkboxes.
States like error, warning, and success are included for each type of form control. Also included are styles for disabled controls.
Bootstrap provides simple markup and styles for four styles of common web forms.
| Name | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical (default) | .form-vertical (not required) |
Stacked, left-aligned labels over controls |
| Inline | .form-inline |
Left-aligned label and inline-block controls for compact style |
| Search | .form-search |
Extra-rounded text input for a typical search aesthetic |
| Horizontal | .form-horizontal |
Float left, right-aligned labels on same line as controls |
With v2.0, we have lighter and smarter defaults for form styles. No extra markup, just form controls.
<form class="well">
<label>Label name</label>
<input type="text" class="span3" placeholder="Type something…">
<span class="help-inline">Associated help text!</span>
<label class="checkbox">
<input type="checkbox"> Check me out
</label>
<button type="submit" class="btn">Submit</button>
</form>
Reflecting default WebKit styles, just add .form-search for extra rounded search fields.
<form class="well form-search"> <input type="text" class="input-medium search-query"> <button type="submit" class="btn">Search</button> </form>
Inputs are block level to start. For .form-inline and .form-horizontal, we use inline-block.
<form class="well form-inline">
<input type="text" class="input-small" placeholder="Email">
<input type="password" class="input-small" placeholder="Password">
<label class="checkbox">
<input type="checkbox"> Remember me
</label>
<button type="submit" class="btn">Sign in</button>
</form>
Given the above example form layout, here's the markup associated with the first input and control group. The .control-group, .control-label, and .controls classes are all required for styling.
<form class="form-horizontal">
<fieldset>
<legend>Legend text</legend>
<div class="control-group">
<label class="control-label" for="input01">Text input</label>
<div class="controls">
<input type="text" class="input-xlarge" id="input01">
<p class="help-block">Supporting help text</p>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
Shown on the left are all the default form controls we support. Here's the bulleted list:
Up to v1.4, Bootstrap's default form styles used the horizontal layout. With Bootstrap 2, we removed that constraint to have smarter, more scalable defaults for any form.
Bootstrap features styles for browser-supported focused and disabled states. We remove the default Webkit outline and apply a box-shadow in its place for :focus.
It also includes validation styles for errors, warnings, and success. To use, add the error class to the surrounding .control-group.
<fieldset class="control-group error"> … </fieldset>
Input groups—with appended or prepended text—provide an easy way to give more context for your inputs. Great examples include the @ sign for Twitter usernames or $ for finances.
Up to v1.4, Bootstrap required extra markup around checkboxes and radios to stack them. Now, it's a simple matter of repeating the <label class="checkbox"> that wraps the <input type="checkbox">.
Inline checkboxes and radios are also supported. Just add .inline to any .checkbox or .radio and you're done.
To use prepend or append inputs in an inline form, be sure to place the .add-on and input on the same line, without spaces.
To add help text for your form inputs, include inline help text with <span class="help-inline"> or a help text block with <p class="help-block"> after the input element.
Instead of making every icon an extra request, we've compiled them into a sprite—a bunch of images in one file that uses CSS to position the images with background-position. This is the same method we use on Twitter.com and it has worked well for us.
All icons classes are prefixed with .icon- for proper namespacing and scoping, much like our other components. This will help avoid conflicts with other tools.
Glyphicons has granted us use of the Halflings set in our open-source toolkit so long as we provide a link and credit here in the docs. Please consider doing the same in your projects.
Bootstrap uses an <i> tag for all icons, but they have no case class—only a shared prefix. To use, place the following code just about anywhere:
<i class="icon-search"></i>
There are also styles available for inverted (white) icons, made ready with one extra class:
<i class="icon-search icon-white"></i>
There are 120 classes to choose from for your icons. Just add an <i> tag with the right classes and you're set. You can find the full list in sprites.less or right here in this document.
Heads up!
When using beside strings of text, as in buttons or nav links, be sure to leave a space after the <i> tag for proper spacing.
Icons are great, but where would one use them? Here are a few ideas:
Essentially, anywhere you can put an <i> tag, you can put an icon.
Use them in buttons, button groups for a toolbar, navigation, or prepended form inputs.