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==========
Django FAQ
==========
General questions
=================
Why does this project exist?
----------------------------
Django grew from a very practical need: in our fast-paced newsroom, we often
have only a matter of hours to take a complicated Web application from
concept to public launch. Django was designed to not only allow us to
build Web applications quickly, but to allow us to build them right.
Django would not be possible without a whole host of open-source projects --
Apache, Python, and PostgresSQL to name a few -- and we're thrilled to be
able to give something back to the open-source community.
How do you pronounce "Django"?
------------------------------
According to Wikipedia_, "Django is pronounced **zhane**-go (with a long 'a')."
.. _Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt
Is Django stable?
-----------------
We've been using Django for almost two years. Sites built on Django have
weathered traffic spikes of over one million hits an hour, and at least
one Slashdotting. Yes, it's quite stable.
Does Django scale?
------------------
Yes. Compared to development time, hardware is cheap, and so Django is
designed to take advantage of as much hardware as you can throw at it.
Django ships with clean separation of the database layer from the
application layer and a simple-yet-powerful `cache framework`_.
.. _`cache framework`: http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/cache/
Who's behind this?
------------------
Django was developed at `World Online`_, the Web department of a newspaper in
Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
`Adrian Holovaty`_
Adrian is a gypsy-jazz virtuoso, an amateur Beatles historian and a proud
Chicagoan. He's also a pretty decent programmer, with a knack for whipping
data into shape and putting it to work for the good of his fellow man.
Adrian is the lead developer at World Online and the man behind the code at
`chicagocrime.org`_.
`Simon Willison`_
Simon is a well-respected Web developer from England. He had a one-year stint
at World Online, during which time he and Adrian developed Django from scratch.
He's enthusiastic, he's passionate about best practices in Web development, and
he really likes squirrels. Probably to a fault. He went back to England to
finish his degree and is poised to continue doing big, exciting things on the Web.
Read his weblog at `simon.incutio.com`_.
`Jacob Kaplan-Moss`_
Jacob is a whipper-snapper from California who spends equal time coding and
cooking. He does Web development for World Online and actively hacks on
various cool side projects. He's contributed to the Python-ObjC bindings and
was the first guy to figure out how to write Tivo apps in Python. Lately
he's been messing with Python on the PSP.
`Wilson Miner`_
Wilson's design-fu makes us all look like rock stars. When not sneaking
into apartment complex swimming pools he is the Commercial Development
Director for World Online, which means he makes the money that pays all our
paychecks.
.. _`World Online`: http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/WorldOnline
.. _`Adrian Holovaty`: http://www.holovaty.com/
.. _`chicagocrime.org`: http://www.chicagocrime.org/
.. _`Simon Willison`: http://simon.incutio.com/
.. _`simon.incutio.com`: http://simon.incutio.com/
.. _`Jacob Kaplan-Moss`: http://www.jacobian.org/
.. _`Wilson Miner`: http://www.wilsonminer.com/live/
Using Django
============
How do I get started?
---------------------
We're working on this documentation as you read this.
The admin interface
===================
The dynamically-generated admin site is ugly! How can I change it?
------------------------------------------------------------------
We think it's very purty, but if you don't agree, you can modify the admin site's
presentation by editing the CSS stylesheet and/or associated image files. The
site is built using semantic HTML, so any changes you'd like to make should be
possible by editing the CSS stylesheet. We've got a `guide to the CSS used
in the admin`_ to get you started.
.. _`guide to the CSS used in the admin`: http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/admin_css/