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Setting up site-specific static folders with Django Sites

I am using Django Sites. I want to be able to have site-specific templates and static files.
My current directory structure is:
├── site_a
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── views.py
│   └── wsgi.py
├── site_b
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── views.py
│   └── wsgi.py
└── templates
├── site_a
│ ├── _navbar.html
│ ├── home.html
│ └── signup.html
└── site_b
├── _navbar.html
├── home.html
└── signup.html
I know that I can move templates inside the site_x directory if I declare it as an app in INSTALLED_APPS. Is there another way to tell Django to use templates in site_a/templates without declaring site_a as an app?
Also, I would also like to have site specific static files that are not placed in the project STATIC_ROOT so that my tree actually looks like:
.
├── site_a
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── static
│   │   ├── css
│   │   └── js
│   ├── templates
│   │   ├── _navbar.html
│   │   └── home.html
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── views.py
│   └── wsgi.py
└── site_b
├── __init__.py
├── settings.py
├── static
│   ├── css
│   └── js
├── templates
│   ├── _navbar.html
│   └── home.html
├── urls.py
├── views.py
└── wsgi.py

You can setting static files via STATICFILES_DIRS (Django Docs) without declaring site_a:
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
('site_a', os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'site_a/static')),
'Full path to your file or directory'
)
And in template:
<script src="{% static 'site_a/js/my_site_a.js' %}" type="text/javascript"></script>
And with declaring of your app:
Store your static files(Django Docs) in a folder called static in your app: site_a/static/site_a/example.jpg.
And for templates same: site_a/templates/site_a/example.html
in your settings.py set APP_DIRS:
TEMPLATES = [
{
...,
'APP_DIRS': True,
...
},
]
See Support for template engines and Overriding templates:
APP_DIRS tells whether the engine should look for templates inside installed applications. Each backend defines a conventional name for
the subdirectory inside applications where its templates should be
stored.

Django Not Applying CSS File From App on 404 Page

Django 3.0.8
Python 3.7.x
I've got a Django project with a few apps. I'm trying to make some 'default' error pages for like 400, 403, 404, 500 errors. I've done that and the appropriate templates display - but without any styling or JS.
In the 404 error page, I'm trying to link to the CSS from one of the apps so the correct styling gets applied - but in the console, I see this error:
Refused to apply style from 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css' because of its MIME type ('text/html') is not a supported stylesheet MIME type, and strict MIME checking is enabled.
The file exists there, however.
That particular CSS file lives in two places: in the app directory and it also lives in the STATIC_ROOT because I ran the python manage.py collectstatic command.
The STATIC_URL is set to /static/
The CSS file is located at:
project_dir/launcher/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css
project_dir/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css
My 404 template lives at:
project_dir/templates/404.html
My link to the CSS looks like this:
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{% static 'launcher/dist/css/launcher.css' %}" />
My project URL's look like this:
urlpatterns = [
path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
path("", include("launcher.urls")),
path("app2/", include("app2.urls")),
path("app3/", include("app3.urls")),
path(
"robots.txt",
TemplateView.as_view(
template_name="robots.txt", content_type="text/plain"
),
),
path(
"favicon.ico",
RedirectView.as_view(
url=staticfiles_storage.url("favicon.ico"), permanent=False
),
name="favicon",
),
]
urlpatterns += static(
settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT
)
urlpatterns += static(
settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT
)
I've tried a lot of different solutions (like getting rid of comments in the CSS or changing the type in the HTML link) but nothing has worked thus far.
What is the best way to accomplish this?
EDIT TO ADD: My 404.html page looks like this:
{% extends 'error_base.html' %}
{% load static %}
{% block css_imports %}
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{% static 'launcher/dist/css/launcher.css' %}" />
{% endblock %}
{% block script_imports %}
<script src="{% static 'launcher/dist/js/vendors~main.f11c6fb90f8f72673956.js' %}"></script>
<script src="{% static 'launcher/dist/js/main.dce999efa12cf745c86d.js' %}"></script>
{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
<h1>Whoops!</h1>
404
<h3>We are having some issue finding that particular item.</h3>
<p>If you feel this was due to an error - please contact us!
</p>
{% endblock %}
The JS files give 404 errors as well, but I figure once I find out the cause of the CSS issues, I can figure out the JS issues as well. The 'error_base.html' file is essentially a boilerplate HTML file with the appropriate blocks in the appropriate spots for the blocks listed in the 404.html page.
ADDITIONAL EDIT TO ADD :
My static files settings look like this:
# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
STATIC_URL = "/static/"
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static")
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'launcher/static/'),
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'app1/static/'),
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'app2/static/'),
]
# Media files
MEDIA_URL = "/media/"
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "media")
EDIT TO ADD: Tree structure looks like this:
├── README.md
├── project_dir
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── context_processors.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── unit-test-settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── utils.py
│   └── wsgi.py
├── geckodriver.log
├── app_1
├── static
│   └── app_1
│   ├── dist
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── app_1.css
│   │   └── js
│   │   ├── main.f3eaca15a899d1a9d4e4.js
│   │   └── vendors~main.48489b4c92919034fc8f.js
│   ├── fa-grav.png
│   ├── grav.png
│   ├── grav_30.png
│   └── src
│   ├── css
│   │   └── style.css
│   ├── html
│   │   └── webpack_bundles.html
│   ├── js
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   └── indellis_form.js
│   └── scss
│   └── app_1.scss
└─ ....other standard app files
├── app_2
├── static
│   └── app_2
│   ├── dist
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── app_2.css
│   │   └── js
│   │   ├── main.cedd2abecaa899d1a9d4e4.js
│   │   └── vendors~main.48325ceds92919034fc8f.js
│   ├── fa-grav.png
│   ├── grav.png
│   ├── grav_30.png
│   └── src
│   ├── css
│   │   └── style.css
│   ├── html
│   │   └── webpack_bundles.html
│   ├── js
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   └── registration_form.js
│   └── scss
│   └── app_2.scss
└─ ....other standard app files
├── launcher
│   ├── static
│   │   └── launcher
│   │   ├── dist
│   │   │   ├── css
│   │   │   │   └── launcher.css
│   │   │   └── js
│   │   │   ├── main.75ef788b0aea38c3c71b.js
│   │   │   └── vendors~main.d806da1f66faa822a6ef.js
│   │   └── src
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── style.css
│   │   ├── html
│   │   │   └── webpack_bundles.html
│   │   ├── js
│   │   │   └── index.js
│   │   └── scss
│   │   └── launcher.scss
└─ ....other standard app files
├── manage.py
├── pyproject.toml
├── pytest.ini
├── requirements.txt
├── setup.cfg
├── static
│   ├── app_1
│   │   ├── dist
│   │   │   ├── css
│   │   │   │   └── app_1.css
│   │   │   └── js
│   │   │   ├── main.f3eaca15a899d1a9d4e4.js
│   │   │   └── vendors~main.48489b4c92919034fc8f.js
│   │   ├── fa-grav.png
│   │   ├── grav.png
│   │   ├── grav_30.png
│   │   └── src
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── style.css
│   │   ├── html
│   │   │   └── webpack_bundles.html
│   │   ├── js
│   │   │   ├── index.js
│   │   │   └── indellis_form.js
│   │   └── scss
│   │   └── app_1.scss
│   ├── project_dir
│   │   ├── favicon.ico
│   │   ├── icons
│   │   │   ├── android-chrome-144x144.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-120x120-precomposed.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-120x120.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-152x152-precomposed.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-152x152.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-180x180-precomposed.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-180x180.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-60x60-precomposed.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-60x60.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-76x76-precomposed.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-76x76.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
│   │   │   ├── apple-touch-icon.png
│   │   │   ├── browserconfig.xml
│   │   │   ├── favicon-16x16.png
│   │   │   ├── favicon-32x32.png
│   │   │   ├── mstile-144x144.png
│   │   │   ├── mstile-150x150.png
│   │   │   ├── safari-pinned-tab.svg
│   │   │   └── site.webmanifest
│   │   └── proj_icon.ico
│   ├── launcher
│   │   ├── dist
│   │   │   ├── css
│   │   │   │   └── launcher.css
│   │   │   └── js
│   │   │   ├── main.75ef788b0aea38c3c71b.js
│   │   │   └── vendors~main.d806da1f66faa822a6ef.js
│   │   └── src
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── style.css
│   │   ├── html
│   │   │   └── webpack_bundles.html
│   │   ├── js
│   │   │   └── index.js
│   │   └── scss
│   │   └── launcher.scss
│   ├── app_2
│   │   ├── dist
│   │   │   ├── css
│   │   │   │   └── app_2.css
│   │   │   └── js
│   │   │   ├── main.cedd2abecaa899d1a9d4e4.js
│   │   │   └── vendors~main.48325ceds92919034fc8f.js
│   │   ├── fa-pdf.png
│   │   ├── id_card_30.png
│   │   ├── rc-u.png
│   │   ├── rg.png
│   │   └── src
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── style.css
│   │   ├── html
│   │   │   └── webpack_bundles.html
│   │   ├── js
│   │   │   └── index.js
│   │   └── scss
│   │   └── app_2.scss
├── templates
│   ├── 400.html
│   ├── 403.html
│   ├── 404.html
│   ├── 500.html
│   ├── base.html
│   ├── error_base.html
│   └── robots.txt

TLDR:
If you want to serve static files with DEBUG=False using a local development server, you need to use the --insecure flag:
python manage.py runserver --insecure
Why you get the error:
Every time you render html in your browser, behind the scenes a request is made to fetch each of your static files. So in your case, the 404.html template is telling your browser to fetch http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css. If your django server doesn't know where that file is, it will respond with the 404.html template instead of the css, which has a MIME type of text/html, and not text/css, hence your error.
Why django can't find the css files:
If you look at the source code for the static function that you call in your urls.py, it looks something like this:
from django.conf.urls.static import static
def static(...):
if not settings.DEBUG:
return []
return [
re_path(...)
]
Which means that the re_path that is used to render static files, is no longer there, since you set DEBUG=False to test your 404.html template...
Credit to Dmitry Shevchenko for the shortcut.

This usually means the page can't find your css file and is trying to load your not found page which is html.
Try using a full absolute path for the link on your error page and see if that works:
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css"/>
If that works, then I would next check to make sure the static variable Django is replacing is actually set correctly at runtime. I suspect the path is slightly off.
If that doesn't work, try the full absolute path to the css file in your app folder instead of STATIC_ROOT:
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/launcher/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css"/>
If that works and the first one didn't, then I would suspect a problem somewhere in the configuration/translation when your files get collected to STATIC_ROOT. I'm not familiar with the process so I'm not sure exactly what get's moved where and what metadata gets changed, if any. I'd imagine none does, but the only way to be sure is to try it out.
Update:
It looks like your STATICFILES_DIRS are not pointing to the end folders the css files are actually in. Complete those paths and it may work (add dist/static... etc.)

I would have write a comment but i can't, due to reputation, because i am new. You should try to access the link (http://127.0.0.1:8000/static/launcher/dist/css/launcher.css) in your browser! If the css file doesn't open the path is the problem.
Another possible cause is a comment at the beginning of the css file.

Not able to load static files in django template

First off, I know there are many more questions like this in StackOverflow. But none of them seem to work. So here goes...
I am learning django through this tutorial. The tutorial is kind of old but most of the code is the same. I tried adding some CSS files to the project just like the tutorial but for some reason, it is not working for me. here is my file structure...
src
├── assets
│   └── css
│   ├── base_styles.css
│   └── index_styles.css
├── core
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── __pycache__
│   │   ├── __init__.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   ├── settings.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   ├── urls.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   ├── views.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   └── wsgi.cpython-37.pyc
│   ├── asgi.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── views.py
│   └── wsgi.py
├── db.sqlite3
├── manage.py
├── test_app
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── __pycache__
│   │   ├── __init__.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   ├── admin.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   ├── models.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   ├── urls.cpython-37.pyc
│   │   └── views.cpython-37.pyc
│   ├── admin.py
│   ├── apps.py
│   ├── migrations
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   └── __pycache__
│   │   └── __init__.cpython-37.pyc
│   ├── models.py
│   ├── templates
│   │   └── test_app
│   │   └── test_app_home.html
│   ├── tests.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   └── views.py
└── templates
├── aboutpage.html
├── base.html
└── homepage.html
Please note that src is the root folder. core is the name of the project and test_app is the name of the application
The global templates reside under the src/templates/. The src/assets/css/ contains the css files for the global templates.
This is my settings.py code
TEMPLATES = [
{
'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
'DIRS': ['templates'],
'APP_DIRS': True,
'OPTIONS': {
'context_processors': [
'django.template.context_processors.debug',
'django.template.context_processors.request',
'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
],
},
},
]
...
...
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STAITCFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "assets"),
)
this is my core/urls.py file
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include
from django.contrib.staticfiles.urls import staticfiles_urlpatterns
from . import views
urlpatterns = [
path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
path('test_app/', include('test_app.urls')),
path('about', views.aboutpage),
path('', views.homepage),
]
urlpatterns += staticfiles_urlpatterns()
this is my base.html file.
{% load static %}
...
...
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/base_styles.css' %}">
...
...
I did everything the tutorial does. I am not sure why this does not work. Could it be because of the fact that the tutorial is kind of old and I am using django 3.0.4? The only difference I could make between the two versions is using {% load static %} instead of {% load staticfiles %}.
What am I doing wrong?

in development mode add a static_root also:
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static_cdn')
then collect your files
python manage.py collectstatic
also your browser can effect so try to run incognito or stealth mode.
In the official docs,they serve staticfiles as below
from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static
urlpatterns = [
# ... the rest of your URLconf goes here ...
] + static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)

Django suddenly can't load static files anymore

I have a django project for which suddenly (after updating PyCharm) the staticfiles can't be loaded anymore. This is the project structure:
├── _quanttool
│   ├── _quanttool
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── asgi.py
│   │   ├── settings.py
│   │   ├── urls.py
│   │   └── wsgi.py
│   ├── _static
│   │   ├── css
│   │   ├── img
│   │   ├── js
│   │   ├── scss
│   │   └── vendor
│   ├── _templates
│   │   ├── base
│   │   ├── funds_tool
│   │   └── transaction_list
│   ├── funds_tool
.
.
.
│   ├── db.sqlite3
│   └── manage.py
├── venv
├── .gitignore
└── README.md
In the settings.py file i have configured:
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
STATIC_URL = '/_static/'
STATIC_ROOT = '_static'
STATICFILES_LOCATION = [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, '_static')]
In the base HTML Template I have set {% load static %} and <link href="{% static 'css/sb-admin-2.min.css' %}" rel="stylesheet">
I really don't understand why I suddenly get the errors:
"GET /_static/css/sb-admin-2.css HTTP/1.1" 404 1682" ...
Any idea why Django can't find the staticfiles anymore?
Best

comment out STATIC_ROOT = '_static' and add the below code to your settings.py file.
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
STATIC_URL = '/_static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = (os.path.join(BASE_DIR, '_static'),)
If still not work then run this command on terminal
$ python manage.py collectstatic

How to properly set images in templates with django 1.4 (django-skel setup) using the development server

I am trying to serve my Django project, set up with django-skel 1.4, using the development server. My site runs as expected except for my images, they are not served.
Part of templates/home.html
<img width="65px;" src="assets/img/pic.png" alt="" id="symbol" />
I'm guessing I should change something in this part: src="assets/img/pic.png".
I've looked around in SO threads and tweaked according to the given answers but I could not manage to make it work.
So how do I properly set images in templates?
Other relevant information:
settings.common.py
DJANGO_ROOT = dirname(dirname(abspath(__file__)))
MEDIA_ROOT = normpath(join(DJANGO_ROOT, 'media'))
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
STATIC_ROOT = normpath(join(DJANGO_ROOT, 'static'))
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
normpath(join(DJANGO_ROOT, 'assets')),
)
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
'compressor.finders.CompressorFinder',
)
Tree of project
.
├── apps
│   └── __init__.py
├── assets
│   ├── css
│   │   └── base.css
│   ├── img
│   │   └── pic.png
│   └── js
├── default.db
├── __init__.py
├── libs
│   ├── core
│   │   ├── admin.py
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── models.py
│   │   ├── views.py
│   │   └── views.pyc
│   └── __init__.py
├── settings
│   ├── common.py
│   ├── dev.py
│   ├── __init__.py
│   └── prod.py
├── templates
│   ├── 404.html
│   ├── 500.html
│   ├── home.html
│   └── install.html
└── urls.py
Btw: Please no solutions using if settings.DEBUG, preferably if possible without needing to adapt urls.py.
Edit
Tree of the top level directory after doing collectstatic
.
├── fabfile.py
├── gunicorn.py.ini
├── manage.py
├── Procfile
├── project_name
│   ├── apps
│   │   └── __init__.py
│   ├── assets
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── base.css
│   │   ├── img
│   │   │   └── pic.png
│   │   └── js
│   ├── default.db
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── libs
│   │   ├── core
│   │   │   ├── admin.py
│   │   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   │   ├── models.py
│   │   │   └── views.py
│   │   └── __init__.py
│   ├── settings
│   │   ├── common.py
│   │   ├── dev.py
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   └── prod.py
│   ├── static
│   │   │   └── js
│   │   ├── css
│   │   │   └── base.css
│   │   └── img
│   │   └── pic.png
│   ├── templates
│   │   ├── 404.html
│   │   ├── 500.html
│   │   ├── home.html
│   │   └── install.html
│   └── urls.py
├── README.md
├── reqs
│   ├── common.txt
│   ├── dev.txt
│   └── prod.txt
├── requirements.txt
└── wsgi.py
Edit 2
My understanding how Django reads the path:
Let src="static/img/pic.png", from my settings.common.py:
>>> DJANGO_ROOT
'/home/my_username/web/my_project/my_project'
>>> j = os.path.join(DJANGO_ROOT, 'static/')
>>> print j
/home/my_username/web/my_project/my_project/static
But
>>> STATIC_URL
'/static/'
>>> j = os.path.join(DJANGO_ROOT, STATIC_URL)
>>> print j
/static/
So somewhere Django probably does os.path.join that is the only reason I can think of why
src="static/img/pic.png" works but src="{{STATIC_URL}}img/pic.png" doesn't. But why then does this apparently work for other people but not for me?

I think you have to add the following to urls.py
(r'^media/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve', {
'document_root': settings.MEDIA_ROOT,
}),
at least thats how I always do it...

You need to add
TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
...
'django.core.context_processors.static',
)
and add staticfiles to your INSTALLED_APPS
You need to modify your img tag
<img width="65px;" src="{{STATIC_URL}}assets/img/pic.png" alt="" id="symbol" />
If it is user uploaded content then replace {{STATIC_URL}} with {{MEDIA_URL}}
Also see related Django cannot find my media files (on development server)