[css] Center the nav in Twitter Bootstrap

I want to be able to center the nav dead middle of a page and have it stayed centered in different resolutions. I don't want to use offsets to push it over or margin-left as this would just screw it up in different browser widths. This is the typical bar that I am messing around with but the ul always winds up left aligned.

     <div class="navbar navbar-fixed-top">
      <div class="navbar-inner">
           <div class="container">
                <a class="btn btn-navbar" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".nav-collapse">
                     <span class="icon-bar"></span>
                     <span class="icon-bar"></span>
                     <span class="icon-bar"></span>
                </a>
                <div class="nav-collapse">
                     <ul class="nav">
                          <li class="active"><a href="#">Menu</a></li>
                          <li><a href="#">On Tap</a></li>
                          <li><a href="#">Shows</a></li>
                          <li><a href="#">Surfwear</a></li>
                          <li><a href="#" >Contact</a></li>
                     </ul>
                </div><!--/.nav-collapse -->
           </div><!-- container -->
      </div><!-- navbar-inner -->
 </div><!--  navbar navbar-fixed-top -->

For Bootstrap v4 check this:

https://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/pagination/#alignment

only add class to ul.pagination:

<nav">
  <ul class="pagination justify-content-center">
    <li class="page-item disabled">
      <a class="page-link" href="#" tabindex="-1">Previous</a>
    </li>
    <li class="page-item"><a class="page-link" href="#">1</a></li>
    <li class="page-item"><a class="page-link" href="#">2</a></li>
    <li class="page-item"><a class="page-link" href="#">3</a></li>
    <li class="page-item">
      <a class="page-link" href="#">Next</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>

You can make the .navbar fixed width, then set it's left and right margin to auto.

Demo

.navbar{
    width: 80%;
    margin: 0 auto;
}?

Code used basic nav bootstrap

<!--MENU CENTER`enter code here` RESPONSIVE -->_x000D_
_x000D_
  <div class="container-fluid">_x000D_
        <div class="container logo"><h1>LOGO</h1></div>_x000D_
      <nav class="navbar navbar-default menu">_x000D_
        <div class="container-fluid">_x000D_
          <!-- Brand and toggle get grouped for better mobile display -->_x000D_
          <div class="navbar-header">_x000D_
            <button type="button" class="navbar-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#defaultNavbar2"><span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span><span class="icon-bar"></span><span class="icon-bar"></span><span class="icon-bar"></span></button>_x000D_
           </div>_x000D_
          <!-- Collect the nav links, forms, and other content for toggling -->_x000D_
          <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="defaultNavbar2">_x000D_
            <ul class="nav nav-justified" >_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>_x000D_
              <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>_x000D_
            </ul>_x000D_
          </div>_x000D_
          <!-- /.navbar-collapse -->_x000D_
        </div>_x000D_
        <!-- /.container-fluid -->_x000D_
      </nav>_x000D_
    </div>_x000D_
  <!-- END MENU-->

For anyone needing this for Bootstrap 3, it is now much easier.

The new nav-justified class can be used to center all of the navbar links..

http://www.bootply.com/g3g125MLGr

<div class="navbar">
  <ul class="nav nav-justified" id="myNav">
    <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
  </ul>
</div>

Or with a little CSS you can center just the brand/logo, and keep the left/right links separate..

http://www.bootply.com/3iSOTAyumP

.navbar-right { 
    margin-left:auto;
    margin-right:auto; 
    max-width :40%;   
    float:none !important;
}

just copy this code and change max-width as you like

I prefer this :

<nav class="navbar">
  <div class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="position: absolute;left: 50%;margin-left:-56px;width:112px" id="centered-div">
    <!-- this element is on the center of the nav, visible only on -md and -lg -->
    <a></a>
  </div>

  <div class="container-fluid">
    <!-- ...things with your navbar... -->
      <div class="visible-xs visible-sm">
        <!-- this element will be hidden on -md and -lg -->
      </div>
    <!-- ...things with your navbar... -->
  </div>
</nav>

The element is perfectly centered, and will be hidden on some screen sizes (there was no place left on -xs and -sm for me for example). I get the idea from Twitter's actual navbar

http://www.bootply.com/3iSOTAyumP in this example the button for collapse was not clickable because the .navbar-brand was in front.

http://www.bootply.com/RfnEgu45qR there is an updated version where the collapse buttons is actually clickable.