Django Suitable for this?

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beetlecube

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Jun 8, 2008, 2:05:06 AM6/8/08
to Django users
I read a blog entry somewhere by someone contemplating the ideal type
of web application needs that Django best meets: Since it was
written originally for publishing articles in a newspaper environment,
it's good for blogs or other Article type sites.

Myself, I'm working on a To-Do list type application (for a
particular industry) which deals with a lot of checkboxes, and utility
windows to show properties, and not really so much text. Since I'm
more of a Python fan than PHP, though, I'd rather finally start using
Django to create sites than continue with PHP.

Shouldn't matter, should it, what kind of web app?
Steve

James Bennett

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Jun 8, 2008, 3:01:42 AM6/8/08
to django...@googlegroups.com
On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 1:05 AM, beetlecube <QuantumC...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I read a blog entry somewhere by someone contemplating the ideal type
> of web application needs that Django best meets: Since it was
> written originally for publishing articles in a newspaper environment,
> it's good for blogs or other Article type sites.

My usual response to this is as follows:

"I was thinking about using Rails to build my site, but it looks like
it's really only good for AJAX-heavy project-management and to-do-list
applications. Should I consider something else if that's not what I'm
building?"

And sometimes I think people underestimate just what goes into a
high-quality newspaper site; there are tons of interactive and intense
data-processing and other background things going on at, say,
ljworld.com, but people hear "newspaper" and think "oh, it's just some
basic CMS stuff". If anyone really thinks it's that easy, they're
welcome to come work for us and see how things really are ;)

> Shouldn't matter, should it, what kind of web app?

More succinctly, no, it shouldn't. I've seen Django used,
successfully, for projects all over the spectrum of web development
(CMS, data processing, highly interactive user-content apps, even
point-of-sale systems). Ultimately, it's up to you to make the call
as to whether it's right for what you want to do, but unless you're in
a domain where there's a need for highly specialized tools (for
example: if I were building a live IM system in Python I'd use Twisted
for its awesome network-oriented features), Django should be fine. So
if it feels right for the way you like to develop, go for it.


--
"Bureaucrat Conrad, you are technically correct -- the best kind of correct."

Richard Dahl

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Jun 8, 2008, 11:53:10 AM6/8/08
to django...@googlegroups.com
In my opinion, it shouldn't matter what type of web app you are
creating, Django is a framework that can be used to develop any kind
of app you can imagine. That being said, Django was designed for a
particular use and has been tailored for that use, deviating
significantly from that type of use may mean not being able to
effectively use some features, i.e. admin. I am writing a web app
that allows organizations to manage their IT Governance, Risk
Management, and Compliancy initiatives, much of what Django provides
lends itself well to efficient development of this app (the ORM, the
template system, Model Forms etc...) however, admin is (at least pre
nf-admin) not real conducive to an app where by design there really
aren't 'trusted' users. So I built my own administrative interface
through custom views. I looked at php, (though I am not a PHP
programmer) and I looked at other python web frameworks (TG and
pylons) and decided that while I probably would never use the built-in
Admin interface for much, if anything, in production, Django provided
the best framework for my app.
hth,
-richard
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