Managing static files with django on a shared server

Getting the static files to display correctly when hosting your django site on a shared server is quick and easy in a few steps.

After getting your django project started on a shared server, things don't initially look quite right when we try and open the admin area. The reason for this is that the css and js files are not being served. For reference, the official docs can be read here.

Edit settings.py

Open for editing mysite/settings.py and right at the bottom (normally) find:

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

Add the following:

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')

MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media')

Edit mysite/url.py

Open for editing mysite/urls.py and add the following:

from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns += static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)
urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)

Collect the static static files and restart the application

To collect the static files ready to server, shell into the server and activate the virtual environment, then run:

(domain_html:3.5)username@server[~/domain_html]# python manage.py collectstatic 
119 static files copied to '/home/username/domain_html/static'.

Finally, restart the app from your cPannel. When we have a look at the admin login, it will now display correctly.

Done, now we are looking good.