β
How to Create a Django Project
π§ 1. Install Python (if not installed)
Make sure Python 3.8+ is installed.
Check with:
python --version
If not installed, download from python.org
.
π¦ 2. Set up a Virtual Environment (Recommended)
# Create a new directory for your project
mkdir myproject
cd myproject
# Create virtual environment
python -m venv env
# Activate it
# On Windows:
env\Scripts\activate
# On macOS/Linux:
source env/bin/activate
π₯ 3. Install Django
With your virtual environment activated, install Django:
pip install django
You can check Django is installed with:
django-admin --version
π 4. Create a New Django Project
django-admin startproject myproject .
myproject is your project name. The dot (.) tells Django to create the files in the current directory.
This creates:
myproject/
βββ manage.py
βββ myproject/
β βββ __init__.py
β βββ settings.py
β βββ urls.py
β βββ wsgi.py
π 5. Run the Development Server
To check that everything works:
python manage.py runserver
Then open your browser and go to:
http://127.0.0.1:8000/
You should see the default Django welcome page.
𧱠6. Create a Django App (Optional but Common)
A project can have multiple apps (blog, accounts, etc.)
python manage.py startapp myapp
Then add 'myapp' to INSTALLED_APPS in myproject/settings.py.
π 7. (Optional) Create a Requirements File
To track dependencies:
pip freeze > requirements.txt
β
Summary of Key Commands
# Create & activate virtual environment
python -m venv env
env\Scripts\activate # (or source env/bin/activate on macOS/Linux)
# Install Django
pip install django
# Start Django project
django-admin startproject myproject .
# Run the server
python manage.py runserver
=========================================
β
Steps to Add and Display HTML Pages in Django
𧱠1. Create a Django App (if you haven't already)
If you havenβt already created an app, run:
python manage.py startapp pages
Then add the app to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py:
# myproject/settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
...
'pages',
]
π 2. Create the Templates Folder and HTML Files
Inside your pages app, do the following:
π Folder Structure
myapp/
βββ templates/
β βββ pages/
β βββ home.html
β βββ about.html
βββ views.py
βββ urls.py β you'll create this
...
π Example home.html
Home Page
Welcome to the Home Page!
π 3. Create Views for Your HTML Pages
Edit myapp/views.py:
# pages/views.py
from django.shortcuts import render
def home(request):
return render(request, 'pages/home.html')
def about(request):
return render(request, 'pages/about.html')
π 4. Set Up URLs
1. Create a urls.py in your app (if not there)
# myapp/urls.py
from django.urls import path
from . import views
urlpatterns = [
path('', views.home, name='home'),
path('about/', views.about, name='about'),
]
2. Include app URLs in main urls.py
Edit myproject/urls.py:
# myproject/urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include
urlpatterns = [
path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
path('', include('myapp.urls')), # include the pages app's URLs
]
π 5. Run the Server and Test
python manage.py runserver
Then open:
Home Page: http://127.0.0.1:8000/
About Page: http://127.0.0.1:8000/about/