Introduction

In this chapter, we will see a few good practices when starting a new project with Django 2.1 on Python 3. Some of the tricks introduced here are the best ways to deal with the project layout, settings, and configurations, whether using virtualenv or Docker to manage your project. However, for some tricks, you might want to find some alternatives online or in other books about Django. Feel free to evaluate and choose the best bits and pieces for yourself while digging deep into the Django world.

We are assuming that you are already familiar with the basics of Django, Subversion and Git version control, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, and command-line usage. Also, we assume that you are using a Unix-based operating system, such as macOS X or Linux. It makes more sense to develop with Django on Unix-based platforms as the websites will most likely be published on a similar server, therefore, you can establish routines that work the same while developing as well as deploying. If you are locally working with Django on Windows, the routines are similar; however, they are not always the same.

Using Docker for your development environment, regardless of your local platform, can improve the portability of your applications through deployment, since the environment within the Docker container can be matched precisely to that of your deployment server. Finally, whether developing with Docker or not, we assume that you have the appropriate version control system and database server already installed to your local machine.