Wagtail is an open-source content management system (CMS) built on top of the Django web framework. It offers a flexible and user-friendly way to create and manage content for a website. In this tutorial, we will take a look at how to use Wagtail to build a CMS-driven website.
The first step is to install Wagtail by running the following command in your virtual environment:
pip install wagtail
Then you can use the wagtail start command to create a new Wagtail project:
wagtail start myproject
This will create a new Django project named myproject with Wagtail installed.
Next, you will need to create a new Wagtail page model. Wagtail uses a hierarchical page structure, where each page is a Python class that inherits from the wagtail.core.models.Page class. You can create a new page model by creating a new Python file in your project's models directory, for example home.py.
from wagtail.core.models import Page
from wagtail.admin.edit_handlers import FieldPanel
class HomePage(Page):
banner_title = models.CharField(max_length=255, blank=True)
banner_subtitle = models.CharField(max_length=255, blank=True)
content = RichTextField(blank=True)
content_panels = Page.content_panels + [
FieldPanel('banner_title'),
FieldPanel('banner_subtitle'),
FieldPanel('content'),
]
This page model has three fields: banner_title, banner_subtitle, and content. The content_panels attribute specifies which fields should be displayed in the Wagtail admin interface when editing the page.
Next, you'll need to create a new template for your page. Create a new directory named home in your project's templates directory and within that create a new file named home_page.html.
{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block content %}
<h1>{{ self.banner_title }}</h1>
<h2>{{ self.banner_subtitle }}</h2>
{{ self.content|richtext }}
{% endblock %}
Now you can create a new HomePage in the Wagtail admin interface and start editing the content. You can also create other pages and add them to the page tree as child pages of the HomePage or other pages.
Wagtail also provides a number of useful features like page revisions, drafts, and scheduling. This can be useful when you want to preview changes before they go live, or schedule content to be published at a later date.
In conclusion, Wagtail is a powerful and flexible CMS built on top of the Django web framework, which makes it easy to create and manage content for a website. By creating a new Wagtail page model, creating a template and using the built-in features like revisions, drafts and scheduling, you can build a CMS-driven website that is both user-friendly and feature-rich.
One of the most important things that Wagtail provides is a powerful and flexible content editor. This allows non-technical users to easily create and update content without the need for coding. The editor also includes features like spell-checking, links, images, and more, making it easy to create rich and engaging content.
Another important feature that Wagtail provides is the ability to manage media files. This allows you to easily upload and manage images, videos, and other files that are used in your website. The media library is integrated with the content editor, so you can easily add images and other files to your pages and posts.
Wagtail also provides a powerful search functionality, which can be used to search for pages and media files. This can be especially useful for large websites with a lot of content.
In addition, Wagtail also provides a number of useful plugins, such as a blog, form builder and more, which can be easily added to a website. This allows you to easily extend the functionality of your website without having to write a lot of code.
Overall, Wagtail is a great choice for building a CMS-driven website. Its flexibility, user-friendly interface, and built-in features make it easy to create and manage content, while its powerful search and media management capabilities make it a great choice for large and complex websites.