Bootstrap 4 - Navbar items outside the collapse - css

Question

Ok so I have to admit this is something I have always struggled with getting to work correctly even in BS3. But I want to have navbar links outside of the collapsed container that stay persistent.
This is what I have right now:
<nav class="navbar fixed-top navbar-expand-lg navbar-template">
<a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
<button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown">
<span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
</button>
<div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown">
<ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto">
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#">Home</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a></li>
<li class="nav-item dropdown">
<a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="http://example.com" id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown">Dropdown link</a>
<div class="dropdown-menu dropdown-menu-right">
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul class="navbar-nav">
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#"><span class="fa fa-facebook"></span></a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#"><span class="fa fa-twitter"></span></a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#"><span class="fa fa-youtube"></span></a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#"><span class="fa fa-linkedin"></span></a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
This works until the first nav is in a collapsed state. When the collapse is active it looks like this:
Has anyone found a clean solution for this?

Answer 1

The simplest way is using the flexbox utility classes, so no extra CSS is needed. Keep the items you always want to show out of the navbar-collapse div.
https://www.codeply.com/go/TWZGiy3VGw
<nav class="navbar fixed-top navbar-light navbar-expand-lg navbar-template">
<a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
<div class="d-flex flex-row order-2 order-lg-3">
<ul class="navbar-nav flex-row">
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link px-2" href="#"><span class="fa fa-facebook"></span></a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link px-2" href="#"><span class="fa fa-twitter"></span></a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link px-2" href="#"><span class="fa fa-youtube"></span></a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link px-2" href="#"><span class="fa fa-linkedin"></span></a></li>
</ul>
<button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown">
<span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
</button>
</div>
<div class="collapse navbar-collapse order-3 order-lg-2" id="navbarNavDropdown">
<ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto">
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#">Home</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a></li>
<li class="nav-item dropdown">
<a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="http://example.com" id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown">Dropdown link</a>
<div class="dropdown-menu dropdown-menu-right">
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</nav>
Notice the use the responsive order-* classes to ensure the collapse menu items remain last (order-3) when in the collapsed/mobile breakpoint.