How to Build a Responsive React Navbar with Dropdown and Mobile Menu
by Vincy. Last modified on November 25th, 2025.
A responsive navigation bar is a one of a must-needed requirement of any modern web application. It is an easy job if the navigation bar contains single level menu and action controls. But, it will be complex it is a multi-level menu to fit the layout into a small viewport.
With this React example code you’ll learn how to build a responsive React navbar. It includes a multi-level dropdown menu for different view port. It will a plugable and reusable React component for your different application frontend.
Responsive navbar in React header
This React JSX code has the a responsive navigation bar component. It provides 1) menu bar with Desktop and mobile variants, 2)sub menu bar with click-to-expand effect.
The menuData contains the array of multi-level menu items. The image shown below renders the horizontal menu on the site header.
src/components/Navbar/Navbar.jsx
import { useState } from "react";
import menuData from "./MenuData";
import Dropdown from "./DropDown";
import "../../../public/assets/css/style.css";
const Navbar = () => {
const [menuOpen, setMenuOpen] = useState(false);
const [openIndex, setOpenIndex] = useState(null);
const toggleSubmenu = (index, e) => {
if (window.innerWidth <= 768) {
e.preventDefault();
setOpenIndex(openIndex === index ? null : index);
}
};
return (
<nav className="navbar">
<div className="navbar-container">
<h2 className="logo"></h2>
<button
className="menu-toggle"
onClick={() => setMenuOpen(!menuOpen)}
aria-label="Toggle menu"
>
☰
</button>
<ul className={`menu ${menuOpen ? "open" : ""}`}>
{menuData.map((menu, i) => (
<li key={i} className="menu-item has-submenu">
<a href="#" onClick={(e) => toggleSubmenu(i, e)}>
{menu.title}
<span className="expand">▼</span>
</a>
{menu.subMenu && (
<Dropdown
items={menu.subMenu}
className={openIndex === i ? "open" : ""}
/>
)}
</li>
))}
</ul>
</div>
</nav>
);
};
export default Navbar;
These are the main and submenu items defined for this React example.
src/components/Navbar/MenuData.js
const menuData = [
{
title: "Popular Toys",
subMenu: [
{
title: "Video Games",
subMenu: [
{ title: "Car", subMenu: ["Racing Car", "Toy Car", "Remote Car"] },
"Bike Race", "Fishing"
]
},
"Barbies", "Teddy Bear", "Golf Set"
]
},
{
title: "Recent Toys",
subMenu: [
"Yoyo", "Doctor Kit",
{ title: "Fun Puzzle", subMenu: ["Cards", "Numbers"] },
"Uno Cards"
]
},
{
title: "Toys Category",
subMenu: [
"Battery Toys",
{ title: "Remote Toys", subMenu: ["Cars", "Aeroplane", "Helicopter"] },
"Soft Toys", "Magnet Toys"
]
}
];
export default menuData;
React menu dropdown hooks to toggle submenu
A component Dropdown returns the submenu look-and-feel. The React state openIndex has the menu open/close state by its index.
The Dropdown component’s expand/collapse state is depends on the menuOpen set with a toggle action. The menu toggle effect is for the mobile view to slide down the menu options on clicking a burger icon.
src/components/Navbar/DropDown.jsx
import { useState } from "react";
const Dropdown = ({ items, className }) => {
const [openIndex, setOpenIndex] = useState(null);
const toggleSubmenu = (index, e) => {
if (window.innerWidth <= 768) {
e.preventDefault();
setOpenIndex(openIndex === index ? null : index);
}
};
return (
<ul className={`dropdown ${className || ""}`}>
{items.map((item, i) =>
typeof item === "string" ? (
<li key={i}>
<a href="#">{item}</a>
</li>
) : (
<li key={i} className="has-submenu">
<a href="#" onClick={(e) => toggleSubmenu(i, e)}>
{item.title}
<span className="expand">›</span>
</a>
{item.subMenu && (
<Dropdown
items={item.subMenu}
className={openIndex === i ? "open" : ""}
/>
)}
</li>
)
)}
</ul>
);
};
export default Dropdown;
Mobile menu navbar view
This heading shows the mobile view of this responsive navbar. In the mobile view, a burger icon will be appeared on the top right corner of the web layout.
This icon’s click event is bound to toggle a sliding menu. In this sliding menu, each menu items are vertically expandable to show its submenu.
References:
Written by Vincy, a web developer with 15+ years of experience and a Masters degree in Computer Science. She specializes in building modern, lightweight websites using PHP, JavaScript, React, and related technologies. Phppot helps you in mastering web development through over a decade of publishing quality tutorials.
Hi, I'm Vincy. I help build websites, grow businesses, big and small. If that is what you want, contact me.
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