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Bootstrap 4 Containers


Containers

You learned from the previous chapter that Bootstrap requires a containing element to wrap site contents.

Containers are used to pad the content inside of them, and there are two container classes available:

  1. The .container class provides a responsive fixed width container
  2. The .container-fluid class provides a full width container, spanning the entire width of the viewport
.container
.container-fluid

Fixed Container

Use the .container class to create a responsive, fixed-width container.

Note that its width (max-width) will change on different screen sizes:

Extra small
<576px
Small
≥576px
Medium
≥768px
Large
≥992px
Extra large
≥1200px
max-width 100% 540px 720px 960px 1140px

Open the example below and resize the browser window to see that the container width will change at different breakpoints:

Example

<div class="container">
  <h1>My First Bootstrap Page</h1>
  <p>This is some text.</p>
</div>
Try it Yourself »

Fluid Container

Use the .container-fluid class to create a full width container, that will always span the entire width of the screen (width is always 100%):

Example

<div class="container-fluid">
  <h1>My First Bootstrap Page</h1>
  <p>This is some text.</p>
</div>
Try it Yourself »

Container Padding

By default, containers have 15px left and right padding, with no top or bottom padding. Therefore, we often use spacing utilities, such as extra padding and margins to make them look even better. For example, .pt-3 means "add a top padding of 16px":

Example

<div class="container pt-3"></div>
Try it Yourself »

You will learn much more about spacing utilities, in our BS4 Utilities Chapter.


Container Border and Color

Other utilities, such as borders and colors, are also often used together with containers:

Example

My First Bootstrap Page

This container has a border and some extra padding and margins.

My First Bootstrap Page

This container has a dark background color and a white text, and some extra padding and margins.

My First Bootstrap Page

This container has a blue background color and a white text, and some extra padding and margins.

<div class="container p-3 my-3 border"></div>

<div class="container p-3 my-3 bg-dark text-white"></div>

<div class="container p-3 my-3 bg-primary text-white"></div>
Try it Yourself »

You will learn much more about colors and border utilities, in our BS4 Colors Chapter and BS4 Utilities Chapter.


Responsive Containers

You can also use the .container-sm|md|lg|xl classes to create responsive containers.

The max-width of the container will change on different screen sizes/viewports:

Class Extra small
<576px
Small
≥576px
Medium
≥768px
Large
≥992px
Extra large
≥1200px
.container-sm 100% 540px 720px 960px 1140px
.container-md 100% 100% 720px 960px 1140px
.container-lg 100% 100% 100% 960px 1140px
.container-xl 100% 100% 100% 100% 1140px

Example

<div class="container-sm">.container-sm</div>
<div class="container-md">.container-md</div>
<div class="container-lg">.container-lg</div>
<div class="container-xl">.container-xl</div>
Try it Yourself »

Did You Know?

W3.CSS is an excellent alternative to Bootstrap 4.

W3.CSS is smaller, faster, and easier to use.

If you want to learn W3.CSS, go to our W3.CSS Tutorial.