Z-index

While not a part of Bootstrap’s grid system, z-indexes play an important part in how our components overlay and interact with one another.

Several components utilize z-index, the CSS property that helps control layout by providing a third axis to arrange content.

These higher values start at an arbitrary number, high and specific enough to ideally avoid conflicts. We need a standard set of these across our layered components—tooltips, popovers, navbars, dropdowns, modals—so we can be reasonably consistent in the behaviors. There’s no reason we couldn’t have used 100+ or 500+.

To handle overlapping borders within components (e.g., buttons and inputs in input groups), we use low single digit z-index values of 1, 2, and 3 for default, hover, and active states. On hover/focus/active, we bring a particular element to the forefront with a higher z-index value to show their border over the sibling elements.