python - Django static files won't load

Question

i'm a Django newbie working on my first project and having a problem with static files.

I have created a simple auth system using django.contrib.auth consisting of two templates: mysite/templates/index.html and mysite/templates/registration/login.html. I have global static content in mysite/static which I want to be able to access on all templates rendered by all apps.

mysite/templates/index.html contains <img src="{{ STATIC_URL }}pics03.jpg"/> which renders as "static/pics03.jpg" and loads fine when I visit the url localhost:8000/

mysite/templates/registration/login.html contains <img src="{{ STATIC_URL }}pics03.jpg"/> which also renders as "static/pics03.jpg" and does not load when I visit the url "localhost:8000/accounts/login/"

In my urls.py I have:

urlpatterns = patterns('',
   url(r'^$', 'mysite.views.home'), # plays index.html template
   url(r'^accounts/login/$', 'django.contrib.auth.views.login'),

In my settings.py I have:

PROJECT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)

STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    # Put strings here, like "/home/html/static" or "C:/www/django/static".
    # Always use forward slashes, even on Windows.
    # Don't forget to use absolute paths, not relative paths.
    os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR,'static'),
)  

STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
)

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATIC_ROOT = ''

I was under the impression that Django should be looking for global static content in STATICFILES_DIRS, but it doesn't find the static content for login.html even if I change the url in there to an absolute path to the static folder. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Answer 1

Your problem is that you arent listening to the URL "/static/" nowhere in your urls.py

If you serve your application via a webserver like apache or nginx then this is normal as the webserver would handle the static files itself.

For development Django comes with a built-in static server

to urls.py, at the very end add

from django.contrib.staticfiles.urls import staticfiles_urlpatterns
urlpatterns += staticfiles_urlpatterns()

What this does is to add the /static/ url and let you serve those without a webserver.

This is equivalent to

url(
    regex=r'^static/(?P<path>.*)$', 
    view='django.views.static.serve', 
    kwargs={'document_root': settings.STATIC_ROOT,}
)

some people will tell you that you need to wrap the URL-rules in a "if settings.DEBUG" to use the dev-only rules, but this isnt needed at all and actually i find that to be a bad advice.