How can I change the default width of a Twitter Bootstrap modal box?

Question

UPDATE:

In bootstrap 3 you need to change the modal-dialog. So in this case you can add the class modal-admin in the place where modal-dialog stands.

Original Answer (Bootstrap < 3)

Is there a certain reason you're trying to change it with JS/jQuery?

You can easily do it with just CSS, which means you don't have to do your styling in the document. In your own custom CSS file, you add:

body .modal {
    /* new custom width */
    width: 560px;
    /* must be half of the width, minus scrollbar on the left (30px) */
    margin-left: -280px;
}

In your case:

body .modal-admin {
    /* new custom width */
    width: 750px;
    /* must be half of the width, minus scrollbar on the left (30px) */
    margin-left: -375px;
}

The reason I put body before the selector is so that it takes a higher priority than the default. This way you can add it to an custom CSS file, and without worries update Bootstrap.

If you want to make it responsive with just CSS, use this:

.modal.large {
    width: 80%; /* respsonsive width */
    margin-left:-40%; /* width/2) */ 
}

Note 1: I used a .large class, you could also do this on the normal .modal

Note 2: In Bootstrap 3 the negative margin-left may not be needed anymore (not confirmed personally)

/*Bootstrap 3*/
.modal.large {
     width: 80%;
}

Note 3: In Bootstrap 3 and 4, there is a modal-lg class. So this may be sufficient, but if you want to make it responsive, you still need the fix I provided for Bootstrap 3.

In some application fixed modals are used, in that case you could try width:80%; left:10%; (formula: left = 100 - width / 2)

If you're using Bootstrap 3, you need to change the modal-dialog div and not the modal div like it is shown in the accepted answer. Also, to keep the responsive nature of Bootstrap 3, it's important to write the override CSS using a media query so the modal will be full width on smaller devices.

See this JSFiddle to experiment with different widths.

HTML

<div class="modal fade">
    <div class="modal-dialog custom-class">
        <div class="modal-content">
            <div class="modal-header">
                <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>
                <h3 class="modal-header-text">Text</h3>
            </div>
            <div class="modal-body">
                This is some text.
            </div>
            <div class="modal-footer">
                This is some text.
            </div>
        </div><!-- /.modal-content -->
    </div><!-- /.modal-dialog -->
</div><!-- /.modal -->

CSS

@media screen and (min-width: 768px) {
    .custom-class {
        width: 70%; /* either % (e.g. 60%) or px (400px) */
    }
}

If you want something that does not break the relative design try this:

body .modal {
  width: 90%; /* desired relative width */
  left: 5%; /* (100%-width)/2 */
  /* place center */
  margin-left:auto;
  margin-right:auto; 
}

As, @Marco Johannesen says, the "body" before the selector is so that it takes a higher priority than the default.

In Bootstrap 3+ the most appropriate way to change the size of a modal dialog is to use the size property. Below is an example, notice the modal-sm along the modal-dialog class, indicating a small modal. It can contain the values sm for small, md for medium and lg for large.

<div class="modal fade" id="ww_vergeten" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="modal_title" aria-hidden="true">
  <div class="modal-dialog modal-sm"> <!-- property to determine size -->
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>
        <h4 class="modal-title" id="modal_title">Some modal</h4>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">

        <!-- modal content -->

      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" id="some_button" data-loading-text="Loading...">Send</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

For Bootstrap 3 here's how to do it.

Add a modal-wide style to your HTML markup (as adapted from the example in the Bootstrap 3 docs)

<div class="modal fade modal-wide" id="myModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="myModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
  <div class="modal-dialog">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>
        <h4 id="myModalLabel" class="modal-title">Modal title</h4>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        <p>One fine body&hellip;</p>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
      </div>
    </div><!-- /.modal-content -->
  </div><!-- /.modal-dialog -->
</div><!-- /.modal -->

and add the following CSS

.modal-wide .modal-dialog {
  width: 80%; /* or whatever you wish */
}

There is no need to override margin-left in Bootstrap 3 to get this to be centered now.