If your web resource is written in Python, it is advisable to make the most of the richest features of this programming language and its frameworks. What are the benefits of a CMS based on Django?
What are the advantages of Django CMS?
In many sources, you can read that this framework is named after the virtuoso guitarist Django Reinhardt, who managed to do things on his instrument with just three fingers that musicians who have all the fingers on both hands could not even dream of. This name is not accidental – Django really provides programmers and users with the broadest multitasking simultaneously with high speed and moderate resource consumption. Therefore, most often, websites built with Django offer their visitors the ability to perform complex tasks using artificial intelligence, optical recognition systems, online editors, and file converters of various formats, as well as large marketplaces.
Developers who prefer to use Django (and there is about 15 percent of the total number of IT specialists worldwide) speak of it not as an ordinary framework, but rather as an entire ecosystem. This perception is explained by the fact that a vast number of libraries and modules have been created for this popular website and web application development tool. The architecture of this framework allows you to connect them to the core, no more complicated than Lego parts.
Here are just a few features that rightfully brought Django such love and popularity:
- A convenient administrative console is automatically generated at the start of work. If necessary, it can always be easily and quickly replaced with any other, choosing from a huge library of elements;
- Django products are inherently SEO-friendly due to their code. However, this is not surprising if we take into account that the Google search engine itself uses this particular framework;
- As already mentioned, an innumerable number of libraries have been created for Django: for example, Django REST Framework – for seamless work with API, Django-allauth – for setting up registration, authorization, and account management, Django CMS – as the name implies, intended for content management. All this means that the developer does not need to spend the customer’s time and money on “reinventing the wheel” but merely take the necessary blocks and connect them to the appropriate points of the project.
To better explain the ease of creating a CMS on websites built with Django, here is a simplified step-by-step scheme:
- The first time you run the framework, a website tree is created;
- Places marked with the placeholder tag are filled from the admin panel with plugins that match your task. By default, at a distance of a click from the developer, some plugins are responsible for placing formatted text, links, files, pictures, Google Maps, HTML pieces, etc., on the page;
- When plugins are required for other, more specific tasks, they are created, as they say, “one-two-three” based on existing models. What is essential: the plugin content management interface can be generated automatically. However, such a simplification of the developer’s work is typical for Django innately. And this is one of the reasons for its popularity;
- You can add any Django applications to the sitemap (and we remember the bottomless source of existing modules and the ease of creating new ones – and the navigation menu will integrate them seamlessly.
Since Django is based on the Python language, which, in turn, works excellent with Big Data and is widely used for fast and reliable processing of large amounts of information, this framework is primarily ideal for creating sites such as:
- eCommerce;
- Various types of online catalogues;
- Scientific web resources;
- Forums and blogs;
- CRM and workflow for big enterprises;
- Banking system websites;
- Streaming;
- Machine learning.
A few important notes
Although this framework allows you to create any projects, it should be noted that it does not make sense to order websites built with Django for small projects like image sites or landing pages. The tasks for which such resources are intended simply will not allow you to unleash the full potential of this powerful development tool.
However, suppose you order the creation of a website from a developer company or a specialist involved, for example, under a body leasing contract. In that case, you, foremost, should carefully consider and put in black and white all the functions your resource should perform immediately and what new tasks you will solve with it when you scale your business. All this should be discussed with the contractor and described in terms of reference. Further, the developer himself will choose the set of technical solutions that best suits you. After all, the main advantage of writing a site from scratch, using time-tested frameworks over using ready-made CMS, is freedom from any restrictions imposed by ready-made templates.
In addition to all of the above, it is worth mentioning another essential aspect: financial. With all the apparent advantages of websites built with Django, it must be taken into account that building a site from scratch is always more expensive than using ready-made content management systems such as WordPress. That is, if your future web resource does not imply further development, and your business wouldn’t scale, you are ready to limit your desires to the possibilities that templates provide, you should probably go this route. If, on the contrary, your plans include constant optimization and gradual development of your site in parallel with your company, bear in mind that templates are a frozen form when you are done with them. Hence, changes, extensions, and improvements can cost more than building a new site.
Summing up
Websites built with Django give developers incredible creative freedom and provide many conveniences and opportunities for those who later maintain and promote such a web resource. The multifunctional administrative panel provides content managers, marketers, and administrators with all imaginable tools and means for collecting and organizing information. Initial SEO-friendliness guarantees such a web resource a high ranking in search engines. If you turn to just such a technical solution, its expediency will be confirmed in practice immediately.