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Django Admin Material

Open-source Library for Django admin section styled with Material Dashboard Design (free version)

Modern template for Django that covers Admin Section, all authentication pages (registration included) crafted on top of Material Dashboard, an open-source Bootstrap 5 design from Creative-Tim.


Links & Resources

  • Django Material Dashboard - Product that uses the library
    • Features: Fully-configured, CI/CD via Render
  • UI Kit: Material Dashboard BS5 by Creative-Tim
  • Sections Covered:
    • Admin Section, reserved for superusers
    • All pages managed by Django.contrib.AUTH
    • Registration page
    • Misc pages: colors, icons, typography, blank-page

Material Dashboard - Full-Stack Starter generated by AppSeed.


How to use it​

Install the package via PIP 

$ pip install django-admin-material-dashboard
// OR
$ pip install git+https://github.com/app-generator/django-admin-material-dashboard.git

Add admin_material application to the INSTALLED_APPS setting of your Django project settings.py file (note it should be before django.contrib.admin):

    INSTALLED_APPS = (
        ...
        'admin_material.apps.AdminMaterialDashboardConfig',
        'django.contrib.admin',
    )

Add LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL and EMAIL_BACKEND of your Django project settings.py file:

    LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = '/'
    # EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
    EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'

Add admin_material urls in your Django Project urls.py file

    from django.urls import path, include

    urlpatterns = [
        ...
        path('', include('admin_material.urls')),
    ]

Collect static if you are in production environment:

$ python manage.py collectstatic

Start the app

$ # Set up the database
$ python manage.py makemigrations
$ python manage.py migrate
$
$ # Create the superuser
$ python manage.py createsuperuser
$
$ # Start the application (development mode)
$ python manage.py runserver # default port 8000

Access the admin section in the browser: http://127.0.0.1:8000/


How to Customize​

When a template file is loaded, Django scans all template directories starting from the ones defined by the user, and returns the first match or an error in case the template is not found. The theme used to style this starter provides the following files: 

# This exists in ENV: LIB/admin_material
< UI_LIBRARY_ROOT >                      
   |
   |-- templates/                     # Root Templates Folder 
   |    |          
   |    |-- accounts/       
   |    |    |-- login.html           # Sign IN Page
   |    |    |-- register.html        # Sign UP Page
   |    |
   |    |-- includes/       
   |    |    |-- footer.html          # Footer component
   |    |    |-- sidebar.html         # Sidebar component
   |    |    |-- navigation.html      # Navigation Bar
   |    |    |-- scripts.html         # Scripts Component
   |    |
   |    |-- layouts/       
   |    |    |-- base.html            # Masterpage
   |    |    |-- base-auth.html       # Masterpage for Auth Pages
   |    |
   |    |-- pages/       
   |         |-- index.html           # Dashboard Page
   |         |-- profile.html         # Profile Page
   |         |-- *.html               # All other pages
   |    
   |-- ************************************************************************

When the project requires customization, we need to copy the original file that needs an update (from the virtual environment) and place it in the template folder using the same path.

For instance, if we want to customize the footer.html these are the steps:

  • Step 1: create the templates DIRECTORY inside your app
  • Step 2: configure the project to use this new template directory
    • Edit settings.py TEMPLATES section
  • Step 3: copy the footer.html from the original location (inside your ENV) and save it to the YOUR_APP/templates DIR
    • Source PATH: <YOUR_ENV>/LIB/admin_material/includes/footer.html
    • Destination PATH: YOUR_APP/templates/includes/footer.html
  • Edit the footer (Destination PATH)

At this point, the default version of the footer.html shipped in the library is ignored by Django.

In a similar way, all other files and components can be customized easily.


✅ Resources​