After extensively searching for a solution to this issue on multiple threads in Stack Overflow, I am baffled as to why it is not working. The example below (taken from a thread on this topic) functions correctly in jsFiddler, but fails to work when served from my local machine.
To troubleshoot, I directly copied and pasted the code from jsFiddler into my own file and opened it in the same browser where it had previously rendered properly in the fiddler preview window.
I have experimented with adding the !DOCTYPE html tag, along with trying variations of including or excluding head tags around the title/link rel sections, but to no avail. The navigation bar displays the brand name and globe icon on the left, followed by "link 1 link 2 link3", then a gap, and finally sign in/register/log out options on the right side of the navbar. Additionally, I attempted serving the code as a Django page from the dev server and also as a flat HTML file by drag-dropping it from the filesystem. Similar examples found on SO yielded the same frustrating outcome.
Here is the webpage on my server:
Furthermore, here is a screenshot illustrating how it appears for me:
While I appreciate the aesthetics and functionality demonstrated in the functioning model, I have yet to achieve success replicating it locally.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<title>
Site title
</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-beta.2/css/bootstrap.min.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" />
<body>
<div class="container">
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light">
<a class="navbar-brand" href="#">
<i class="fa fa-globe" aria-hidden="true"></i> Brand Name
</a>
<button class="navbar-toggler collapsed" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarSupportedContent" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
<i class="fa fa-angle-double-down"></i>
</button>
<div class="navbar-collapse collapse" id="navbarSupportedContent">
<ul class="navbar-nav mr-auto">
<li class="nav-item"><a href="#" class="nav-link ">Link 1</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="#" class="nav-link ">Link 2</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="#" class="nav-link">Link 3</a></li>
</ul>
<ul class="navbar-nav">
<li class="nav-item"><a href="#" class="nav-link ">Sign In</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="#" class="nav-link ">Register</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a href="#" class="nav-link ">Log Out</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</nav>
</div>
<div class="container">
<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse fixed-bottom text-center">
<!--<a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Fixed bottom</a>-->
<h6 class="text-center">Footer</h6>
</nav>
</div>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.slim.min.js" integrity="sha384-KJ3o2DKtIkvYIK3UENzmM7KCkRr/rE9/Qpg6aAZGJwFDMVNA/GpGFF93hXpG5KkN" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.3/umd/popper.min.js" integrity="sha384-vFJXuSJphROIrBnz7yo7oB41mKfc8JzQZiCq4NCceLEaO4IHwicKwpJf9c9IpFgh" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-beta.2/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-alpBpkh1PFOepccYVYDB4do5UnbKysX5WZXm3XxPqe5iKTfUKjNkCk9SaVuEZflJ" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
</html>
System information: Mint Linux and Mozilla Firefox. Served using Django 2.0 and as a flat HTML file on the local filesystem.