Spinners

Spinners can be placed just about anywhere, including inside buttons, alerts, and even <b-table>'s busy slot.

<div class="text-center">
  <b-spinner label="Spinning"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner type="grow" label="Spinning"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner variant="primary" label="Spinning"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner variant="primary" type="grow" label="Spinning"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner variant="success" label="Spinning"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner variant="success" type="grow" label="Spinning"></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinners.vue -->

Spinner types

Bootstrap includes two types of spinners. The default spinner type is called border (spinning circle border), and the optional type grow (a throbber style indicator).

Border spinner

Use the default border type spinners for a lightweight loading indicator.

<div>
  <b-spinner label="Loading..."></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-border.vue -->

Grow spinner

If you don't fancy a border spinner, switch to the grow spinner by setting the prop type to 'grow'. While it doesn't technically spin, it does repeatedly grow!

<div>
  <b-spinner type="grow" label="Loading..."></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-grow.vue -->

Spinner color variants

Spinners use currentColor for their color, meaning it inherits the current font color. You can customize the color using the standard text color variants using the variant prop, or place classes or styles on the component to change its color.

The variant prop translates the variant name to the Bootstrap v4 class .text-{variant}, so if you have custom defined text color variants, feel free to use them via the variant prop.

<template>
  <div>
    <div class="text-center mb-3 d-flex justify-content-between">
      <b-spinner
        v-for="variant in variants"
        :variant="variant"
        :key="variant"
      ></b-spinner>
    </div>

    <div class="text-center d-flex justify-content-between">
      <b-spinner
        v-for="variant in variants"
        :variant="variant"
        :key="variant"
        type="grow"
      ></b-spinner>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    data() {
      return {
        variants: ['primary', 'secondary', 'danger', 'warning', 'success', 'info', 'light', 'dark']
      }
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-spinner-variants.vue -->

Why not use border-color utilities? Each border spinner specifies a transparent border for at least one side, so .border-{color} utilities would override that.

Size

Set the prop small to true to make a smaller spinner that can quickly be used within other components.

<div>
  <b-spinner small label="Small Spinner"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner small label="Small Spinner" type="grow"></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-sizes.vue -->

Or, use custom CSS or inline styles to change the dimensions as needed.

<div>
  <b-spinner style="width: 3rem; height: 3rem;" label="Large Spinner"></b-spinner>
  <b-spinner style="width: 3rem; height: 3rem;" label="Large Spinner" type="grow"></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-sizes-custom.vue -->

Alignment

Spinners in Bootstrap are built with rems, currentColor, and display: inline-flex. This means they can easily be resized, recolored, and quickly aligned.

Margin

Use margin utilities like .m-5 for easy spacing.

<div>
  <b-spinner class="m-5" label="Busy"></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-margin.vue -->

Placement

Use flexbox utilities, float utilities, or text alignment utility classes to place spinners exactly where you need them in any situation.

Flex

Using flex utility classes:

<div>
  <div class="d-flex justify-content-center mb-3">
    <b-spinner label="Loading..."></b-spinner>
  </div>

  <div class="d-flex align-items-center">
    <strong>Loading...</strong>
    <b-spinner class="ml-auto"></b-spinner>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-flex.vue -->

Floats

Using float utility classes:

<div class="clearfix">
  <b-spinner class="float-right" label="Floated Right"></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-floats.vue -->

Text align

Using text alignment utility classes:

<div class="text-center">
  <b-spinner variant="primary" label="Text Centered"></b-spinner>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-text-align.vue -->

Spinners in buttons

Use spinners within buttons to indicate an action is currently processing or taking place. You may also swap the label text out of the spinner element and utilize button text as needed.

<div>
  <b-button variant="primary" disabled>
    <b-spinner small></b-spinner>
    <span class="sr-only">Loading...</span>
  </b-button>

  <b-button variant="primary" disabled>
    <b-spinner small type="grow"></b-spinner>
    Loading...
  </b-button>
</div>

<!-- b-spinner-buttons.vue -->

Spinner accessibility

Place a hidden label text inside the spinner for screen reader users, via the label prop or label slot. The content will be placed inside the spinner wrapped in a <span> element that has the class sr-only, which will make the label available to screen reader users.

For accessibility purposes, each spinner will automatically have a role="status" attribute when a label is provided. You can easily customize the role if required via prop role. The specified role will not be applied when no label is provided.

As well, when no label is provided, the spinner will automatically have the attribute aria-hidden="true" to hide the spinner from screen reader users.

See also

An alternative to the <b-spinner> component are animated icons.