On 10/20/05, kmh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Seeing it in writing got me wondering though if the whole idea of
> application templates "extending" the base site is wrong-headed.
> Because the application knows nothing about the site it is to be
> embedded in, the application writer is second-guessing what base
> template it is supposed to extend. Say the 'blog' and 'gallery'
> applications need to appear on the same page in different
> columns...what then?
The way we've done things for the past 2 years at World Online, with
dozens of decoupled Django apps, is to have a standard convention for
templates. Here's a short explanation of the convention, which I think
we should promote:
* All app templates assume there's a "base_generic" template and {%
extend %} it.
* All app templates assume the <title> is in {% title %}.
* All app templates assume there's a {% block extrahead %} within the
<head>. This is a hook for putting arbitrary things in <head>.
* All app templates assume the parent templates have defined {% block
content %}, for the main content area of the page.
Essentially, the convention is to assume these base templates:
base.html:
"""
<html>
<head>
<title>{% block title %}{% endblock %}</title>
{% block extrahead %}{% endblock %}
</head>
<body>
{% block content %}{% endblock %}
</body>
</html>
"""
base_generic.html
"""
{% extends "base" %}
<!--Provides a hook for customizing the look and feel on a
"section"-specific basis. For example, this can customize subnavs.
Make a base_* template for each section of the site, e.g. base_sports,
base_news, base_about. -->
"""
Solidifying a convention like this would go a long way in making
Django apps easily pluggable (via their default templates). Of course,
it shouldn't (and won't) be required that app users *use* the default
templates that come with an app -- they're just a quick starting point
and serve as documentation.
I'd even go so far as to say we could include the above base.html and
base_generic.html in the Django distribution proper, to give people a
starting point when creating their templates.
Adrian
--
Adrian Holovaty
holovaty.com | djangoproject.com | chicagocrime.org
